The Abacos –

Sailed from Spanish Wells to the Lynyard Cay in the Abacos – Northern Islands of the Bahamas. Left at 6:30 A.M. and arrived and set anchor at 5:30 P.M. – long day. Motored sailed all day – was glad when we could shut off the engine. Saw many flying fish. Brian caught a Mahi Mahi and this time I had a wet towel ready to cover its head when Brian landed it. It worked like a charm for a few minutes, then the Mahi got a second wind and started bucking around the floor of the cockpit and off flew the towel. It was amazing to watch the colors come back on the fish once the towel was off. Threw the towel on its head again and this time I stood with one foot on the towel to keep the fish still – that worked. Brian fillet the fish. No sooner did we get everything cleaned up from landing the Mahi, when out zinged the line on the fishing pole – this time we hooked a Marlin – that was exciting. The Marlin jumped clear out of the water and took our line out with him; he got himself off the hook – that was probably a good thing as Brian wasn’t sure he could have landed it.

Took a dinghy ride with Adrien and Nina to check out some coral sites for snorkeling. We found one promising area that wasn’t coral but a tiny outcrop of land. Nina stayed in the dinghy – she had family business to take care of and needed to make calls while the rest of us swam around. There was little for marine life and the bottom was pretty clear. What we did find were quite a few dead sea biscuits – Brian and Adrien swam down for them. When I was done with my swim, I hoisted myself onto the dinghy, turned around to sit on the side of the dinghy once I was up and the next thing I knew I was on my back on top of a few sea biscuits and the gas tank. Before we left, I had slathered myself with sunscreen – so once I was wet, I was like a greased pig. I was so stunned from the pain – I had hit my tail bone right on the corner of the gas tank – I didn’t move for a minute or two. Nina was peering over me asking if the look on my face was pain or was I getting ready to laugh – I finally blurted out in a whisper “pain” and it was so very painful. The dinghy ride back to the boat was very, very slow.

Next day we started out to Tilloo Cay, but Nina’s uncle had passed away and Nina wanted to be in a place to have internet access so she could help her mother with everything with funeral arrangements and other concerns. Brian was able to guide Nina on some Probate Law – that was a big help to her. On this sail we hit 24 knots of wind and topped out at 6.6 knots of speed. I was at the helm for the most part – I placed a float cushion on the teak seat and then made a donut out of a large beach towel and sat on that for most of the day when I wasn’t standing to see where we were heading. It helped minimize the pain in my butt when sitting.

Later, early evening, Brian and I were sitting out in the cockpit playing a scrabble game, when he says “Someone is out for a swim.” The harbor is busy, the water not so clear and swimming at night probably isn’t a great idea – then he says “Someone’s Dink – uh oh.” I turned around and Adrien was swimming after his dinghy. Almost wanted to laugh as this is not the first or even second time that his dinghy has not been secured properly, but the current was taking it away at a pretty good clip. Our dinghy was still up on its davits and would have taken way too long to get that and the outboard down to help him. Adrien managed to catch up with the dinghy and climb aboard and bring it back. The next day Brian casually mentioned to Adrien that he noticed was out for a swim – “Exercising?” lol Come to find out, this time it wasn’t Adrien’s fault – he had a technician on board helping him with his refrigeration system – the tech had “secured” the dinghy, soooo guess we couldn’t rib Adrien. (PS: Have been spelling Adrien’s name incorrectly – “e” intead of an “a”).

Dinners: Grilled Mahi Mahi, salad and corn muffins
Fried Mahi Mahi with salad
Chicken with pasta and salad

Reading: I haven’t found anything that piqued my interest on Brian’s Kindle so I read and finished The Outer Banks by Anne Rivers Siddon

Brian is reading The Devil in the White City


Spent our first day in Marsh Harbour out walking the town. Met up with Pat and John from “New Moon” for lunch. Checked out local stores including all the hardware stores for the guys. Storm coming in tonight. Last night we had 20 knot winds, but anchor held just fine. Looking forward to the rain tonight so we can wash off the boat – it’s a bit crusty from the salt water.

Nina cooked dinner last night and we played cards – I think they are hooked on LiverPool and Adrien enjoys playing Whist with us (similar to Spades). Brian got up and went out and scrubbed the deck of the boat while it was raining – squeaky clean now. Made water all day. I spent from 8 AM to 1:45 PM in the galley; breakfast, then baked lemon squares, butternut chewies and chocolate cupcakes along with peanut butter frosting for the cupcakes – also made a marinade for the chicken for dinner and a dressing for the broccoli; made egg salad for lunch. By the time I finished cooking and cleaning my back wasn’t feeling so great – down for a rest.

Took a ferry to Hope Town and walked and golf carted around the island – what a quaint town and so, so clean.

Dinner: Baked chicken, hot broccoli salad and potato salad and a choice of desserts
Reading: Lauren – 9 Years on the 7 Seas
Brian – The Snowman by Jo Nesbo

From Marsh Harbour we motored over to Man-O-War. Brian brought up an orange juice for us to share. I was behind the helm and not paying attention to him, so when he handed the juice container to me, I automatically started shaking it before taking a sip. Unbeknownst to me, Brian had already opened the container and left the cap off, SOOO, the juice went everywhere – what a mess. Thankfully, our shower hose was conveniently located near our feet, so we sprayed down the console and everything else that the juice hit. Other than that it was an uneventful motoring (1 ½ hours). We were able to anchor in a secure harbor. Man-O-War is a boat building community. Walked around town and found a lovely elderly couple who sold baked goods; bought cinnamon rolls and also their own special blend for conch fritters. The museum was closed (we never seem to get to tour the local museums – they are run by volunteers and they don’t always show up when scheduled). Met a sailor from our neck of the woods and chatted with him for a bit.

Dinner: Chicken Adobo (I used pork chops) EH!! – new recipe – will make changes to it – it was ok. Also made a spinach pie

From Man-O-War we sailed (and it was a great sail) to New Province Town on Green Turtle Cay. Left at 9:00 AM and dropped anchor at 2:15 PM. Had to reset the anchor as it didn’t take hold the first time. Numerous turns on this sail to get to our destination – waves averaged about 5 feet and moved us along. Winds hit a high of just over 22 knots. One spot we had to navigate through is called Whale Cut and when we listen to the cruisers’ net in the morning, one of the questions always asked is if anyone has either sailed through or been near the cut that morning and what is the condition of Whale Cut. If the winds are up, mostly likely the chop will be rough going through. We took advantage of leaving today to get through it as we heard the weather was going to deteriorate the next couple of days. The waves were about 5 – 6 feet and pushed us around a bit. The donut and floaty I was sitting on slid around and off I went onto the cockpit seat – OUCH!!!! Didn’t help the ole tailbone – so very painful – stood the rest of the way even though we were knocked around til we got through. We sailed right through cut, though we had the key in the ignition just incase we were going to have problems and had to push through it. I was fascinated with the color of the water through here – a milky light turquoise – just beautiful. Passed a tanker that had hit the reef and has been sitting there for several years – bet there’s great marine life around that. Once through the cut and making a turn, the island blocked the waves, but we still had great wind to keep us moving along – made it a tad more comfortable. Tiring day.

Walked around New Province Town – it was Sunday, so everything was closed – streets were very quiet. Brian and I found a beach and went for a several mile long walk. Found a few shells and a sea biscuit. Met up with Adrien and Nina for a late lunch and then more walking. Next we took a dingy ride to check out a marina – we like looking at the other boats (I especially like checking out their names – ((Breaking Wind – really??? And here’s a good one “Lakanukie” (Hawaiian? Lol– that’s on a fishing trawler that goes out for about 4 – 6 weeks at a time); the guys are always guessing what type of boats they are and critiquing the rigging; what bothers me is that they will stand in the dinghy sometimes to check out the boats – told Brian that someone is going to think we are casing them out and are up to no good. As we were leaving that marina to head to another one we spotted a dinghy near “Dolphin”, so we all raced over to make sure they weren’t up to no good. Turns out it was a couple (Ted and Barb) that had just set anchor and have the same type of boat as “Dolphin”. We bobbed around in our dinghies chatting for a few minutes and then decided to continue on to check out another marina. On the way in we saw two huge parrots – at least from a distance they looked like parrots except that they had exceptionally long tails. (Later checked out local birds – there are Bahamian parrots, but these two didn’t match the pics in the book. Got off the dinghies and walked around – nice, clean marina AND reasonably priced if we decide to stick it out here for the incoming storm. We all ordered drinks (there is always a special going on – mostly rum punches; too sweet for me) and sat around dangling our feet in a very clean swimming pool. Ted and Barbara of “Rosa dos Ventos“ may continue to the states with us. For now we have squalls coming in and have decided to stay put.

April 29, 2013

Happy Birthday Meghan and Pete!!! Yesterday, we all met on “Rosa-dos Ventos” to discuss the incoming weather and our options (marina?). I made a blueberry cake that was a big hit. “Rosa dos Ventos” and us will most likely sit out the squalls on our anchor; Nina likes the marinas, so they will most likely get a slip. There are only a few boats here in the anchorage and I have to say, I want to see how we do in 50 knot winds on an anchor. If for some reason we start to drag – we are well clear of any other boats and the shore. We also downloaded an APP that will set off an alarm if we start to drag. All of us walked the town again and got to poke through a shop or two, tour the museum, walk a different beach and meet other cruisers. Saw Herb and Linda of “Utopia” – Previously met them in Hatchet Bay. Herb has been catching all kinds of shark and has a freezer full of meat – heard it was good eatin’. Recently he was told that it’s illegal to catch any shark. Nina bought a grouper for dinner – she can’t seem to get enough of that fish. Just before dinner – noticed Ted heading out to sea with his dingy wondering what the heck he was doing – rescuing another dinghy (nope, not Adrien’s) that got loose from a yacht. After dinner, we taught Ted and Barb to play Liverpool – we got back to the boat about 1 A.M.

Dinner: Grilled marinated grouper and tossed salad by Nina, stir-fried rice (me) and a wonderful black bean hummus by Barbara.

Stir-Fried Rice: Sauteed chopped carrots, celery, peeled broccoli stalks and garlic; added rice previously cooked and cooled, two beaten eggs – then added sherry, sesame seed oil, soy sauce and then because I felt it needed some more zip – added a bit of Hoison Sauce – very good

High winds last night, but not near the 50 knots they were predicting, so not at all uncomfortable. The sky looks ominous this morning. Took pics of the clouds hovering over land behind us this morning; out to sea is rather dark. Good day to clean, read, maybe watch a movie, figure out meals, etc.

Yesterday’s weather was rather benign. No high winds, no rain near us, but watching the clouds the “storm” skirted our area. Did a load of laundry – have given up on the plunger and bucket – with the tailbone problem it was painful to sit in the cockpit leaning over the bucket. I now do the laundry in the smaller side of our divided kitchen sink. I found by standing, I have more leverage when using my hands as agitators to clean the clothes – works just fine. Brian and I took the dinghy out as my tail end wasn’t giving me any grief – looked for coral heads in the area and didn’t find any. Stopped at two small beaches; Brian found two good coconuts and then went snorkeling – I walked the beach and picked up trash and looked for treasures. Found a few urchins, two shells and lots of broken bottles that I piled into an old cooler that someone left and was being used as a garbage can. Brian only found one fish – he’s been trying to figure out what kind it was – from the description, I thought it might be a flounder. Brian said it was so well camouflaged that he almost missed it; the head reminded him of a turtle and the fins were bent like it had elbows and it “walked” along the bottom on the fins – how bizarre! (later found out it is called a Bat Fish)

No storm last night and today it’s sunny, but lots of heavy clouds hovering – no wind, so a bit stifling. Supposedly there’s a storm brewing for end of week, but Chris Parker (our weather guru on the SSB) won’t commit that far in advance. So today, I provisioned for produce and we motored an hour and a half over to Manjack Cay – we were joined by “Dolphin” and “Rosa dos Ventos”. Once we arrived, Brian and I immediately went for a swim around the boat – so refreshing! All of us took a dinghy ride through an extensive mangrove – saw quite a few turtles – boy can they swim fast! Also saw tons of jelly fish lying on the bottom along with sea urchins. The sea urchins cover themselves with leaves and shells – you wonder how they do that. The water was very shallow so it was neat looking at the bottom as we meandered through. Saw a large puffer fish and numerous very small fish – we were hoping to find Grouper. Walked a beach and found very tiny shells – I collected a few and once back on the boat rinsed them and put them out to dry. In the morning half of them had wandered off – apparently, the shells had the tiniest crabs inside of them – I needed my readers to see them – sent them overboard. Nina found a large red starfish – we took it back to the boat to take pics then we put him back in the water. It was fascinating studying it and feeling the texture and it had some heft to it.

Rainy day. Prepared an appetizer for tonight, cleaned, put out a fishing line and Brian scrubbed the outside of the boat while it was raining. If it clears up, there is another beach to explore and apparently a path to the Atlantic side. Great day for reading and catching up on the blog. As I’m writing this, we heard the zing of the fishing line. Brian put out a smaller rod with a piece of barracuda that we keep in the freezer for bait. He attach we got out to the cockpit, we saw the splash rings in the water from whatever ended up taking not only the bait but also the hook. Brian put out more bait except on our heavy duty fishing pole. We saw two small remoras swimming around, but they are to small to have taken the bait and hook; wonder if there is a nurse shark swimming nearby.

Dinners: Leftovers
Baked mac ‘n cheese (the local extra sharp is so bland, so I added goat cheese for a bit of tang), vegetable medley by Nina, artichoke & sun-dried tomato bruschetta by Barb and a home made apple cobbler (Brian peeled the apples for me)
Macaroni salad from left over pasta, sliced tomatoes

Took the walk to the Atlantic side of the island – no treasures, but it was good to get off the boat and stretch the legs. Left mid-morning and motored back to Green Turtle Cay for the Heritage Festival (Island Roots Festival) the town was hosting – it’s actually a reunion of sorts. Decades ago, Bahamians left the island – actually broke down their houses and shipped them to Key West, so Green Turtle Cay hosts a get together every year and people come in from all over to participate and enjoy. Watched a Bahamian marching band – that was very good; they would stop and break out into impromptu dances and engage the audience, strolled through a few booths and watched school children perform songs and a mayflower dance, saw a film of the sea life of the Bahamas and how the Bahamas were the first to create a land and sea park and have since extended these parks throughout the Bahamas. Back to the boat for a break and get cleaned up to head back in again to listen to several bands, BUT the skies darkened and we watched with fascination as a water spout developed. It was on the other side of the island and we’re hoping it would dissipate when it hit land as all of the tents set up would have been blown away with everything under them – food, crafts, etc.; we could see everyone running for shelter. We battened down the hatches and picked up anything that would fly off the boat, then grabbed the camera. It hit land, but took a few minutes to fall apart; it apparently hit a couple of house as we could see roofing shingles flying through the air. Even though it was so fascinating to watch the movement of the spout – the sucking up of the water and twirling to form the spout, it was also a tad scary as we along with a couple of other boats were in direct line of it. Brian said if it continued we would close up the cockpit hatch and sit it out; glad it didn’t get to that point. Not sure how I would have handled being in the middle of such turbulent weather; though we did get the high winds and then the heavens opened up with a torrential down pour that lasted for several hours – I actually enjoyed watching the rain – it came down so hard that it would bounce back up from the water causing a haze a couple of inches above the water. Didn’t sleep well; Brian was up checking the chafing gear for the anchor as the wind was moving us around a bit; and the some of the lines were slapping against the mast – the noise was annoying, so he took care of that, but there was still a tap tap tapping noise that was driving me nuts. I went out with a flash light to try and track it down – the winds were howling; made sure I held on tight – Brian sleeps soundly, he wouldn’t have heard if I had gone overboard. Couldn’t track down the noise, so I stayed up and played several games of Scrabble at 2 AM. Back to bed about 4 and up at 7. Fixed a coffee and wiped down the woodwork, windows and stainless steel. Noticed Rosa getting ready to leave – hope to meet up with them down the road.

Because of the storm yesterday, needless to say, the music events scheduled at the Festival were cancelled. We were all looking forward to hearing the different groups. This morning went back in and picked up some produce and walked out to the area where the water spout came ashore; trees snapped, rocks thrown around, leaves were shredded. Fortunately no one was injured but a couple of houses got hit pretty hard.

Dinners: Chicken parm with salad
Spice rubbed pork loin served over salad; garbage cake for dessert
Nachos and a Disney movie
Chicken, pasta and chorizo dish (Barb on “Rosa”), stuffing wrapped in bacon (me) and for dessert we had fresh pineapple chunks dipped in red pepper such as cayenne (different, but actually very good)

Garbage cake is a recipe I found in a Yankee magazine years ago and just got around to making it. The woman who made the cake would grind raisins and orange peel and add it to the batter – her kids thought it didn’t look too appetizing, so hence the name. When the cake comes out of the oven, you poke holes in it and spoon on a mixture of orange juice and sugar and let it soak in. The cake was delicious!

Stuffing with apple and wrapped in bacon and baked off – yum – a big hit

May 5, 2013

Cinco de mayo!! Should have made the nachos for today. Left Green Turtle Bay and motored (no wind) to Crab Cay. Linda and Herb on “Utopia” traveled along with us – we all anchored together. Andrien from “Dolphin” along with Brian and I went snorkeling. Saw lots of colorful fish and coral. The guys each found a “lobster” (it’s actually considered a craw fish) – Brian speared them both. Even though it’s a craw fish, I refuse to eat it as the last time I had lobster, I had a horrible reaction. Brian is also allergic to lobster, but he has tried the craw fish and it didn’t bother him. “Utopia” invited us to their boat – contributed a roasted red pepper hummus to the get together. Herb is quite the guy – he’s a sculpture, paints, plays several instruments, sings (he and Linda both sang a song they wrote – cute little ditty), he worked on the ship the Bounty (the one that sank during Sandy) for many years and was just heart broken when he heard of the sinking. His latest project is writing an autobiography and some fiction work. When we got back to the boat, Brian worked on trying to tighten the alternator belt – it’s brand new, but is too loose, so our gage that shows the RPMS isn’t working which means the batteries are not getting charged as we motor along, BUT between the wind, sun and our generator we will be ok. Just another issue to resolve once we are back in the states.

May 6, 2013

Left Crab Cay at 8 A.M. and decided to head for the states – our initial goal was to Fort Pierce, FL, but ended up at Lake Worth. Started out motoring, then motor sail, then sail with winds at about 17 knots and made a high speed of 8.5 knots WHICH is fast and would have gotten us into Fort Pierce at 11 the next morning, BUT, a rain squall hit us and changed all of that. Even though the winds stayed pretty steady, they changed direction to on our nose which means we were not making much headway and the waves were coming at us from all direction – felt like we were in a washing machine – both Brian and I felt a bit nauseous for quite a while. It took us 37 hours to make it to Lake Worth – got in and dropped anchor at 9PM May 7th – cleaned up any messes that the waves wreaked havoc on below, quick bite to eat, cockpit shower and off to bed. Slept great!!

PS: one highlight of the crossover from the Bahamas was that several hours out from Lake Worth, we started having small birds land on our boat – they were migrating north and needed a rest. The first one looked like a New England Chickadee, but its cap was brown instead of black; the second one was a Sparrow; and the other four were a type of Vereo – one female and three males. The first two birds only stayed maybe a half hour, but the Vereos stayed for a couple of hours – they acted like butterflies – they never stood still – flitted and fluttered all around the cockpit. One landed on my head, on our laps, our shoulders, hopped all over the cockpit – we had to look before we made any moves lest we accidently hurt them. They certainly kept us entertained.

CONGRATULATIONS Cait and Bobby on your engagement!!!!

This morning we left Lake Worth and headed to Fort Pierce – we are going to indulge ourselves and get a slip in the marina. Brian checked all of the fluids (oil, transmission, diesel and anti-freeze) and added any that needed to be topped off; found that the new alternator belt was starting to go, so he replaced that – and our alternator gauge is actually working now. On our way, another Vereo came flying in behind us – went to land on our dinghy, missed and fell into the water on it’s back – I was horrified and so wanted to rescue it, but… It actually was able to flap its way out of the water and came flying again to the boat – this time he landed safely. You could tell it was exhausted – he stayed with us for a bit to dry out and rest. When we arrive in Fort Pierce Brian will have someone look at the engine – new problem – it sounds like a button in a dryer flopping around – click, click, click – we were so worried yesterday with running the engine ¾ of the day – didn’t want it to conk out on us, especially when we got within 7 miles out from Lake Worth. The current and adverse winds were against us and it took us hours to get in – so frustrating. I was nervous about heading into the anchorage at night as it is a very busy port with tankers, fast ferries, large and small fishing boats, pleasure boats, etc. and when trying to pick up the navigational aids (red and green buoys) against all of the lights on land – confusing and bit of tension and my night vision isn’t the best, but we made it just fine; not like coming into an anchorage in the Bahamas at night (so much easier). Normally we would never come in at night, but once you are on your way, you can’t predict or always rely on the weather forecasts.

Once to Fort Pierce, we will give the boat a good outside scrubbing as it is encrusted with sea salt and get some laundry done at a laundry facility – wooo hooo!!

Dinners: Cereal