March 11 – 29, 2013

From Big Major we sailed (no motor sail) to Black Point on Great Guana Cay. It took only a few hours to get here. Once there we dinghied over to a luncheon that was being held to raise funds for the local school. $10 bought us stir-fried rice, potato salad, tossed salad, cold slaw and then a choice of either barbecued chicken, ribs or fried fish. There was so much food that I told Brian this was going to be our main meal for the day and it was delicious. Walked off the lunch and checked out part of the island.

Spent the morning on the boat, cooking, cleaning, researching the area while Brian worked on the head (toilet). Our macerator pump quit (that is what empties the holding tank) – he took it apart and discovered that the impella was shredded. Brian was able to cut the hose to bypass our waste going to the holding tank to directly overboard. After he did this, Rich from “The Great Catsby” heard about our problem and offered to sell us his backup as he has two heads on board. So now Brian will be able to patch the hose he cut with hardware that Adrian of “Dolphin” is offering and connect the new macerator pump – yeah!!! In the afternoon we took a walk to another part of the island and found a blow hole AND several pieces of sea glass – finally!!! There was quite a bit of near the blow hole – I think I got some decent pieces, but will have someone check them out to make sure they are good pieces; walked a few small beaches and then headed back to Lorraine’s Café for dinner; again, a lot of food and very good. Bought cinnamon raisin bread, coconut bread and a guava cake from her – her mom bakes the bread every day.

Met Lorraine’s son, Joshua, a precocious, three-year old cutie patooty – not shy about going up to anyone and start chatting them up. When he saw my IPad – his eyes lit up and asked if there were any games he could play; found Ant Smasher for him and he already knew how to play it and for a three-year old, his hand/eye coordination was excellent. Took a bit of doing to get the IPad back from him as he was a bit rough with it. He didn’t like the fact that I was hovering and constantly telling him to be gentle; finally got it back – he wasn’t happy with me and wouldn’t smile when I wanted to take his picture – so I told him “No picture unless you smile for me”, so I got a 3-second smile and then back to folding the arms in front of him and scowling at me – it was actually pretty funny.

Took a dinghy ride along with “Dolphin” and “River Rat” to look for turtles and do some snorkeling. Found a tiny beach and was able to collect a few urchin shells. Saw a few small fish while snorkeling, but as we were finishing up I saw two barracuda. The water was chilly and a rather strong current. I am now able to hoist myself into the dinghy from the water after snorkeling – not an easy feat and I’m not very graceful, but keeping the fins on helps quite a bit. I think I’ve developed a little upper body strength, probably from constantly hoisting the outboard and dinghy up all the time.

Adrian from “Dolphin” showed me the basics of Soduko. I’ve had the Soduko for Dummies for quite some time and every once in a while I try my hand at it – very frustrating. Maybe now I’ll have a better chance at figuring out the puzzles with the tips from Adrian. Also found out there is a sequel to The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett – one of my all time favorites. The book is titled “World Without End”. Can’t wait to read it!

Reading: Brian – Litigators by Grishom
Lauren – finished Cornwell’s Red Mist and also Alex Cross by James Patterson. Now reading The Killing Ground by Jack Higgins

Dinners: Grilled marinated grouper with cornbread and salad
Sausage stuffed w/ Mozzarella wrapped in lasagna noodles and baked in marinara sauce w/ salad
Pork chops with rice and veggies
Chicken salad

Yesterday, met up with Nina from “Dolphin” and Debbie from “River Rat” at Lorraine’s Café for a cheeseburger and to play Mexican Train (Dominoes); Carol and Rich from “The Great Catsby” showed up and Carol taught us how to play the card game Hand and Foot – didn’t take us long to get the hang of the game. Rich took over Carol’s last hand so he became my partner – “We take no prisoners” – he must have had an inkling that I’m just a tad competitive. We lost, but not by much – thoroughly enjoyed the game. Rich and Carol have been married 50+ years and just recently sold their Cat (beautiful boat) and have bought themselves an RV to continue their travels. They still own a home in Florida and if we are in their neck of the woods they would like us give them a call. It would be nice if someday we could visit them.

Brian and I got up and off the boat fairly early – wanted to get to a beach at low tide to find sea glass. Had fun – I got soaked a couple of times by the waves and tumbled around a bit (like a rag doll). Good thing I brought along a changed of clothes – we were both soaked and sand everywhere. Our last night on Black Point was spent in Scorpios having a cheeseburger, meeting other boaters and I played two games of pool and won both – either they were really bad at the game or I was just darn lucky.

Left Black Point and sailed a couple of hours to Hetty’s Land (still part of Great Guana Cay) to snorkel for the afternoon, though it’s very windy and the water is a bit chilly. Alternator belt broke along the way – thankfully we have a spare, so another repair at another anchorage. Have decided to head north after today and stop at islands we missed on the way down. Want to see family and friends this summer. On the way out of the anchorage spotted “Lirica” – didn’t realize they were in the same anchorage – would have stopped by and said “hello”. We met them (Raul & ??) while were in Charleston – they had given me some tips on crabbing.

Went for a walk into town (Black Point); couple of miles. On the way back, we were offered a ride from a guy who lives in the “castle” on the island. He was driving a front loader. We were all carrying a rum punch drink and he said to “step right up”. We did – what a riot. Nina was trying to take a video of our joy ride while holding onto her drink while holding onto the front loader – part of her drink ended up down my back. I’m surprised the rest of us didn’t lose our drinks or fall off – it was a rather bumpy and fast ride (anything is faster than sailing), BUT fun!!!

Didn’t stay at Hetty’s Land as there was nothing to see when snorkeling.
Left Hetty’s Land and motored to Big Majors. On the way we stopped at Little Iguana Cay. We walked around for a bit and took pictures of the Iguanas. Nina and I decided to swim back to our boats as the water was fairly calm. Boy am I out of shape – made it, but was tired. Guess I need to do more swimming.

We are still leaking transmission fluid (even when the engine isn’t running) and we just can’t seem to locate the leak. Were able to buy the fluid, but at this rate….. Brian’s seriously thinking about changing out the engine and the transmission. We could just replace the transmission, but the engine is old (original to the boat which is a ’79), parts are corroded and there’s been too much work done on it already.
Last night dinghied over to the beach on Big Majors and played a game called Corn Toss – girls against the guys (it was a grudge match). This time they won. Steve and Theresa from “Seaquell” played the losers – this time we won. Didn’t stay long on the beach – the sunset was beautiful, BUT the no see ums were horrid – we were all doing the slap dance.

Dinners: Grilled marinated strawberry Grouper with couscous mixed with sautéed veggies, salad and blueberry buckle
Pulled barbecue pork with red cabbage salad by Nina of “Dolphin”
Leftovers – defrosted the freezer and cleaned out the fridge

Reading: Brian downloaded several books by Lee Childs regarding the Jack Reacher series. In between he’s reading stories by Edgar Allen Poe

I just finished A Dangerous Fortune by Ken Follett which Brian also read.


Anchored for a few days at Cambridge Cay. Before reaching Cambridge Cay, Brian hooked a barracuda – we will use it for bait fish. Took about a mile and half dinghy ride to a coral garden - lots of fish. The sergeant majors apparently are use to people feeding them. As soon as we entered the water they started right at us – felt like they were nibbling my legs – it tickled; I was laughing so hard, I couldn’t get the snorkel mask situated on my face – fed them part of a granola bar – once it was gone they backed off. Current was pretty strong – swam against it for a bit and then just floated back to the dinghy looking at all the fish. Too bad we couldn’t fish here – saw some big grouper.

Today we dinghied to a nearby coral head to check out the marine life. More marine life here than there was at the coral garden. Brian and I were swimming along when he spotted a very large barracuda just hanging out in one area and out of the corner of Brian’s eye he saw a dark object, so he turned and a big nurse shark was coming closer to Brian to check him out. Brian took off one of his fins and poked the shark in the snout – it backed off. I turned around and started swimming back the direction we came from with Brian following – the shark left us alone. It was a bit hair-raising – the nurse sharks are supposedly harmless, but he was about 6 feet in length and we didn’t want to hang around to find out otherwise.

The winds are suppose to change to out of the north starting tomorrow and continue for the next several days. “Dolphin” and we have decided to sail to George Town after all, since heading north at this time would just be strictly motoring as the winds would be on the nose. Looking forward to “civilization” for a bit – need to stock up on some fresh veggies and fruits. We will most likely stop at Lee Stocking Island for one night then continue on.

Dinners: Brian caught a monk fish outside the park limits – grilled it – tasted good, but way too many bones; slow cooked several garlic cloves in oil, then sautéed veggies in same oil – added long grain rice and simmered; conch salad

Roasted herbed chicken thighs cooked over onion rings; mashed potatoes flavored with garlic, carrots and corn muffins

For breakfast one morning, made French toast with the coconut bread we bought at Black Point – mixed cinnamon and nutmeg in batter – yum!!!

Reading: Lauren: finished Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger (she also wrote The Time Traveler’s Wife) Started Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

Brian: still reading the Jack Reacher series that he had downloaded

Sailed from Cambridge Cay to Lee Stocking Island. Left at 8:00 am and arrived at 4:00 pm – it was a perfect sailing day – no motoring. The winds averaged about 15 knots and we averaged about 6.5 knots in speed. Brian trolled a line and as soon as we heard the zing of the fishing line, I knew we had to slow the boat so he could bring in his catch. We took down the head sail which slowed the boat down and Brian was able to real in a 4 foot Mahi Mahi. It put up a bit of a fight, jumping out of the water and then swimming down – but Brian persevered. What a colorful fish – blues, green and yellows with stripes and dots (when they are alive). I held the fishing pole while he gaffed the fish and brought it on board. We brought with us an old heavy wooden baseball bat and used that to gently persuade the fish to quiet down (sorry). It was not a pretty site – blood spatter everywhere – our cockpit is rather small, so I stood on the seat area while Brian put the fish out of it’s misery. Once the fish was dead (I told the fish “sorry” but that he was going to a good cause – our stomachs), it immediately lost all of its color. Brian gutted it and cut it in half and then bagged and refrigerated it. Later we were told that once the fish is on board to just put a heavy wet towel over the fish’s head instead of using blunt force trauma – the towel will calm the fish and he will eventually cease to live. Definitely sounds more humane and there would be less of a mess.

When we arrived at Lee Stocking we were able to pick up a free mooring. It used to be the home of the Perry Institute for Marine Science’s – Caribbean Marine Research Center here on Lee Stocking, but now the whole island is abandon. Brian and Adrian dove down on the mooring balls to make sure they were in good condition – they are practically brand new. Took a swim to cool off and then showered off the salt. Had the Mahi Mahi for dinner – excellent!!

Storm came through here at Lee Stocking – lightning and heavy rains (Brian went out at 5:30am and scrubbed off the decks while it was raining. The storm brought cool weather and winds so we decided to dinghy around to Leaf Cay which is supposedly owned by Nicholas Cage. No one lives on the island – lots of pink iguanas and it was rumored that there were lots of sea beans to gather – didn’t find any. From Leaf Cay, we dinghied back to Lee Stocking and spent ¾ of the day walking around and poking through all the buildings. So much stuff left behind.

On another line of thought – we just can’t get over the trash on these islands. Lots of the stuff is washed up on shores from storms – tons of plastic and a gazillion shoes – Really!!! I should have taken a picture of the sign when we first landed on Black Point – “Black Point – Keep it Clean, Keep it Green, It Starts with You”. Then I should have taken a picture of all the broken bottles and trash that lined the roads. So its not just storms that bring trash onto the islands. Some islands put out dumpsters so boaters can use them and then the garbage gets burned. We had started picking up some of the trash and putting it in garbage cans or bagging it as we hiked around the islands, but it got to be a full time job. I was so upset when we were having our luncheon at Black Point for the school fundraiser, ‘cause the playground was littered with broken glass and the kids were running around it barefoot – they didn’t seem to mind – guess they are use to it.

Because of the high winds and 8 foot swells, we decided to wait another day before heading over to George Town. Took another hike around the island and checked several beaches for any shells, sea glass (non-existent), etc. though Brian and Adrian collected quite a few ripe coconuts. We now know how to open them – the coconut water is mild and the coconut flesh is a great snack – crunchy!!! The sand on one beach was so, so soft – like a baby’s bottom when you powder it, like fresh dough bread when you knead it – it was such a pleasure to walk in it. When we got back, Adrian and Brian decided to go snorkeling – they got a grouper – can’t wait to eat that.

Dinners: Grilled Mahi Mahi with tossed salad and leftover rice mixed with spinach, breadcrumbs and herbs (by Nina)
Pasta with home made mushroom pesto with left over chicken mixed in
Grilled Mahi Mahi steaks with tossed salad and apple cake

Reading: Brian taking a break from the Reacher series and reading “Never Say Impossible” (The Life and Times of an American Entrepeneur) by John Perry, Jr. (Perry Institute)
Lauren: I thought I was going to be reading King Rat by James Clavell – author of Shogun but someone replaced the cover of the book with the King Rat cover – the book is actually “The Understudy” by Elia Kazan


Left Lee Stocking Island at 9:30 and sailed to Stocking Island which is across Elizabeth Harbor from George Town – sailed the whole way – the winds were a broad reach (I’m actually starting to retain and understand some of the sailing lingo) out of the South East averaging about 15 knots – the waves varied from 2 – 4 feet. Arrived in George Town and anchor down at 3:30PM – was an exhilarating sail – rather cold, though. Saw “New Moon” roaming around looking for a place to anchor. When we dropped our anchor, I realized that “Mezzaluna” was in front of us. We haven’t seen Katie or Jeff since Marathon. Took a dinghy ride to the Chat and Chill and split a rib plate with Brian. “Mezzaluna” and “Dolphin” joined us along with Keith and Eda of “Cheers” – they are traveling with “Mezzaluna” and will be heading south. We would also be doing that, but because of the constant transmission problem, we have decided to head north to have the transmission and engine looked at and that way we get to see family and friends.

This morning took a very long hike with “Dolphin” on Stocking Island looking for treasures – found only one piece of sea glass. We didn’t want to walk the beaches back so we found a trail to the other side of the island and thought we could get back to our dinghies, which we couldn’t unless we went for a swim in one area. The one time I decided NOT to wear a bathing suit plus we had cameras with us. Luckily we were offered a short dinghy ride by two couples from Canada to the Chat and Chill and from there we walked the parameter of the island back to our dinghies, except part of it we had to walk in the water so Brian gave me a piggyback ride where the water was deep enough for me to get my clothes wet – I’m hoping Nina of “Dolphin” was NOT taking any pictures. Back to the boat for a late lunch and Brian and Adrian decided to take their chances at a volleyball game on the beach with other boaters – I stayed behind to work on the blog, clean and made a hummus dip from scratch – added roasted red peppers and red pepper flakes to zip it up a bit – it was a bit hit – none left.

Last day in George Town area we moved our boat across the bay (distance was about a mile and a half) and anchored so we could provision before leaving. It was a very long and hot day. Brought in four loads of laundry to do, but the one laundry facility that provides transportation to and from was not answering. I walked to the closer one while Nina watched all of our stuff to check it out – there were lots of washing machines and dryers, but the place was mobbed. I did find an employee that was willing to come and pick Nina and I up with all of our laundry – he wasn’t quite ready to leave, so I walked back to wait – he was a no-show – frustrating! We were sitting outside a small eating establishment called the Bikini Bottom and the girl behind the counter tried to contact the owners of the laundry mat that was on the outskirt of George Town – she ended up giving Nina and I a ride there (turned out she and her husband own the Bikini Bottom – she looks all of 15). We were so happy that we paid her what would have cost us for a taxi – she was very personable. She did find out that the owner/husband was off island and that his wife got called to the medical facility for an emergency. When we arrived at the laundry mat the wife came in and told us she would take us back to the dinghy dock when we were done. Got back about 2:30 and then off walking to do errands – a long day. Schlepping laundry isn’t fun, but a tad better than sitting on board and using a bucket and plunger and then waiting all day for the clothes to dry. The sea air keeps the clothing damp once it gets wet.

Dinners: Nina prepared corned beef and cabbage with potatoes and carrots; I made a gingerbread with lemon sauce
Fried grouper with veggies
Baked mac and cheese with ham in it – served with a side of corn. Didn’t have enough extra sharp cheddar, so I used Queso Fresco (Mexican) for the mix.


Note: Noticed quite a few boats have a “Moon” name: Mezzaluna, New Moon, Luna, Moon Dog, Blue Moon, Moonbeam, Moon Shadow (every time I here someone call Moon Shadow – Cat Steven’s Moon Shadow song pops into my head) to name a few.