February 10, 2013

Backed out of cooking dinner for Tim on Legacy as we are just out straight with work. Did have him over though for sun downers. I gave him the beer bread recipe and a container of home made marinara sauce – he thought that was great. A couple of days ago I decided I was ready to tackle the blue stripe around the boat – never did like it. Brian stood in the dinghy and moved it along the boat while I taped off above and below the stripe. I held the boat with one hand and painted with he other; Brian held the paint can while moving the dinghy alongside the boat with the other. We were doing rather well, until we got near the bow of the boat; we were starting to lose light, but also, the winds and waves kicked up – the dinghy started moving under the bow, Brian had a difficult time keeping out from under the bow; he wanted me to grab the can of paint, but I couldn’t grab it as one hand was holding on to the rim of the boat and the other held the wet paint brush, SOOOO, down went Brian with the paint. On the upside, he didn’t go overboard with the paint and the paint didn’t land on him. On the downside, we lost almost 90% of the paint in the bottom of the dinghy – what a mess. I wish I had taken a picture. Usually I would probably have blown a gasket, but I started giggling – I couldn’t help it – we were just hoping no one was watching. It looked like we gutted a pig in the dinghy. It definitely was a Kodak moment. The next day, I could barely move – just standing in the dinghy the day before and going around the boat – between our leg muscles quivering from trying to keep balanced, our hand grip on the boat and our arm muscles constantly flexing with the movement between the dinghy and the boat holding tight to the boat, taping it off and painting the stripe – it was physically challenging – great isometrics workout. Wanted to get the job done, so back in the dinghy and taped the other side, then a coat of paint, back to the first side and painted the second coat and then stripped the tape off that side – turned out pretty good – looks great from a distance. Had Brian dinghy me around the boat while I used q-tips dipped with paint thinner and took off any dribbles. Mid-afternoon, the other side was ready for the second paint job, but weren’t sure if we should attempt it as the winds were up quite a bit and the water was rather choppy. I just didn’t want this job to drag on, so we went ahead. Brian really had a tough time holding the dinghy in place; I was just afraid of the paint getting spattered all over the side of the boat or on the dinghy (this time we set the paint can on a rag on the dinghy seat ((worked much better than Brian trying to hold it up for me and also try to hold the dinghy steady)). Again, stripped off the tape and q-tipped off any noticeable muck ups. After that, I sat in the dinghy and scrubbed all of it with paint thinner except the bottom – not sure if I’ll leave it as is or just work on cleaning it up another day. Overall, the stripe looks much better than the blue that was on it.

Met with Wayne after work (7:30pm) and had pizza and beer under the Tree of Knowledge - the local hangout for drinking and commiserating (mostly drinking)

Today we met with several other couples who are looking to head to the Bahamas at the next weather window which looks like it starts Tuesday. We may wait til Wednesday as West Marine ordered a propane tank for us that is suppose to come in Tuesday. It would be nice to have the extra one on board – we would have 4 total. They are 10 pounds each and each one lasts us about a month. I think I need to cut down on the baking – that may stretch them a bit longer. Did some last minute grocery shopping locally and picked up another 5 pound gas tank. That gives us three 5 lb cans along with two 5 lb diesel cans to lash on deck for our travels. We also have a 5 lb gas can that stays hooked up in the dinghy. Our water maker is working just fine and between the wind generators and solar panels we should be ok. Plus Brian bought a battery charger that seems to work wonders in getting the batteries charged up rather quickly. Our navigational equipment, SSB, all nav lights and engine are in working order. So it looks like we are good to go as soon as the weather is favorable. Yes, I’m nervous, but a bit excited. Just still not looking forward to the night watch that I will have to do alone so Brian can get some sleep.

Dinners: Pasta with home made marinara meat sauce and salad
Sausage and pepper sandwiches
Pizza and beer
Rice with left over sausage and peppers mixed in
Roasted herbed rubbed chicken thighs with a pat of Boursin cheese under the skin along with roasted potatoes and carrots
Boiled salted new potatoes with spinach salad and sautéed boneless skinless chicken breasts

Reading: Whipped through 61 Hours by Lee Child
Sailing Grace by John Otterbacher
The Winner by David Baldacci
Unlikely Passages by Reese Palley
Onboard Weather Handbook by Chris Tibbs
Debt of Honor by Tom Clancy

February 15, 2013

Decided to make the run to the Bahamas – Wayne was sad to see us leave – he wanted to go with us. He figures in about a year’s time, he should be ready to head out from Marathon. Mixed emotions leaving Marathon with all its conveniences, but…. I’ll probably miss the laundry the most. I bought a plunger and Brian bored a few holes in it so now I can do laundry in a pail and use the plunger to agitate the clothes (can you just picture it??? – LOL) I’m sure we will come across some laundry facilities, but in the meantime, it will be the plunger and a bucket. Left Marathon February 13th at 7 a.m. with two other boats: “My Pleasure” and “Bob Ra Anne”. Once we cleared the buoys from Marathon, we saw the biggest sea turtle ever – it had to be no less than 5 feet from head to tail! Also saw quite a few flying fish – they are always neat to watch. I was a bit nauseated both at beginning and end of the trip, but never truly got sea sick. My first ocean passage and did much better than I thought I would do as, again, I was a bit nervous about doing an overnight watch. It went rather well, though. I was mesmerized with all the stars. Used my IPad and pulled up the app for Starwalk – I was able to pinpoint the constellations – I really enjoyed that; I counted 4 shooting stars and Brian said he saw a few; also played a couple of games of scrabble on the IPad. Every two hours I wrote down our position, wind speed, barometer, course and temperature.

31 hours to get to Morgan’s Bluff. (pics) After arriving at Morgan’s Bluff, Brian set the anchor and then went in the water with a mask to make sure the anchor was secure – it was sand over coral – so a bit precarious. Once he was satisfied with that he picked up Jim from “My Pleasure” and Bob from “Bob Ra Anne” and dinghied over to check in - it went rather smoothly, except when Brian roped up to the rock there was a young man there requesting money just because he helped choose the rock… Jim from “My Pleasure” gave him $5.00. Then the guy thought he could get more out of them, so he picked on Brian – Brian said “no”. They guy said he had to feed his family (we were told later by Dave of “Dotori” that this guy was a drug dealer. He ended up having a staring contest with Brian – Brian wouldn’t budge and the other two guys with him were a bit uncomfortable – Brian didn’t care and by the way, Brian won the staring contest – apparently he used to do that all the time with his brother, Wayne when they were kids. While the guys were gone, I swam a lap around the boat – it was refreshing – after all that sailing we were caked in a thin film of salt and all of our clothing was damp from the salt air and any waves that splashed onto the boat and us. After the dip, I did a nice hot shower in the cockpit – soooo nice!!!!

Reading: Finished The Winner by David Baldacci
Brian is reading Close Combat by W.E. Griffin

Dinner: last night was Kraft Mac N Cheese (and when we arrived in Morgan’s bluff – the left overs) – yes, from the box


2/15/12 Left Morgan’s Bluff about 7:30 am after listening to the weather report. We were originally going to head to South East side of New Providence Island as it would have been good protection from the weather coming in. But the weather pattern changed significantly, so we headed instead to Nassau as did the other two boats (that was their original plan). We were able to sail all but the last hour coming into Nassau – it was rather nice. The other two boats did a motor sail and got in quite a bit earlier than us and went to a marina. We were in no hurry as we were planning to anchor. We put out a fishing line, but didn’t catch anything – had cut up a nice fresh pineapple and used the rind as chum hoping it would lure some fish. Did see a good size fish jump clear out of the water and a few flying fish. It took us several tries to get the anchor down in a good spot – boats were close, we did it, but a bit nerve wracking. So to alleviate my anxiety, I started right in with fixing dinner while Brian contacted family via SSB email to let them know we made it.

Dinner: Roasted Roma tomatoes with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, sugar and herbs served over pasta and home made chicken fingers (saving all the stale crackers and using them as breadcrumbs). We opened the bottle of champagne my sister, Lisa had gotten for us to celebrate arriving safely in the Bahamas. Would have celebrated last night, but we were so exhausted after our travels that it was a very early evening. (Thanks, Lis – it was very good!) We sat out after dinner on the foredeck of the boat and had our champagne and listened to the goings on and took in all the lights on land.

Reading: Tales of the South Pacific by James A. Michener

2/16/13 Took a bus ride around the island to the mall looking for a telephone store to get a sim card for our phone. Costs $1 for the ride no matter how far you go. Boy, sometimes, we just don’t know how lucky we are. The poverty; every home, the schools, most businesses further away from the marinas are fenced and have razor wire on top. We were told not to go anywhere alone even during the day and at night to absolutely not go out unless it was just across the street to the shopping plaza – ok with me! Though, everyone is so pleasant, always smiling and very friendly except for the guy at Morgan’s Bluff.

2/17/13 Blueberry pan cakes with bacon to start the day. Went out and about to the Straw Market – a building that is just so crammed packed with “stuff” (mostly imported) - some clothing and lots of chatzkies - I basically held onto Brian – I just didn’t like the closeness of it all. Prior to that, we walked through a section of vendors that were selling their wares along the street: all of the items were made locally and the vendor has to be at the table – no imports. The baskets were all shapes and sizes and the work that goes into them is incredible. I so wanted to pick up a straw fedora for our grandson, Colin, but trying to find a post office and getting it mailed out would have been hassle and probably would have cost us three times the hat. The jewelry was made from sea glass and conch shells – just beautiful (no, I did not buy any). We found a Dunkin Donuts and I got my coffee. From there we walked up to Fincastle Fort and toured the ruin – cost us a dollar each to have a look see inside and the view was spectacular! Then we walked down the Queen’s Steps; the young man standing at the top gave us an impromptu history lesson about the steps – he did such a wonderful job that we tipped him. And yes, I forgot my camera and the story behind that is the day before, we discovered the weather was going to be worse than we had anticipated, so we opted to get a slip in the marina for a few days. We probably would have been ok where we were, but it all depended on the direction of the winds, the tide and current and even though we have a wonderfully heavy 73lb Rochna, being the newbies that we are, we just wanted to be safe (forget the budget) and not be up all night watching to see if our boat was going to drift or watching all the other boats around us not holding. So we were actually out getting a sim card for our phone when the dock master asked us to get right back before the tide changed so that we could get our boat into the slip. The heavens opened up and it just poured; it rained so hard that the streets were flooded and it looked like waterfalls coming off the buildings. So off the bus, we ran down the dock to “My Pleasure” (our dinghy was tied to their boat), dinghied to our boat, take off the outboard and haul that up, haul up the dinghy, set up all of our lines for the dock – we looked like drowned rats and, of course, the winds were picking up and the temp dropped significantly – a tad uncomfortable. Everything in my small backpacked got dumped on the table to dry out and the camera was put away for safe keeping (hence forgetting it the next day). Brian asked me if I wanted to navigate the boat to the slip and I decided to give it a try. I am proud to say I got the boat safely into the slip without incident, though I came within an inch or two (really) from hitting the concrete dock with our bow anchor. Brian kept telling me to put the boat in reverse and I kept yelling that I was in reverse. What I wasn’t doing was giving it a bit of throttle, but it finally clicked – gave it a bit of throttle and voila snug and safe – whew!!!

Last night on our way back from a walking tour (I did over 10,000 steps) we stopped under the bridge to check out several “shacks” (restaurants) – and decided to try the local cuisine. First we watched Ali (pic) to learn how to get the meat out of the conch shell – he then cleaned it for us, dribbled it with fresh lime juice and sprinkled it with sea salt – it was delicious – the meat has a bit of sweetness to it (yes it was raw). Then we ordered cracked conch which is very lightly breaded and fried and a tropical salad that consisted of fresh fruit, habanera peppers, conch and drizzled with fresh lime and oranges – they were both wonderful! Brian can’t wait to try and get his own conch. We had heard it was very difficult to get the meat out, but with a little practice, I think he will do just fine.


2/18/13 Took a walk across the bridge to the Atlantis Island (pics) and walked around the casino, ogled the humongous yachts, all the hoity toity stores; we wanted to go to the aquarium, but it was $40/person – passed on that. Did have a lunch (mine was a salad with lightly barbecued pork and beef – three meals out of it plus used the leftover meat several days later for dinner) and walked back – stopped at Starbucks to check the weather update on the internet. The winds have picked up significantly and we may stay one more day and leave on Wednesday morning – we will see what it’s like in the morning.

2/19/13 Not too long ago we discovered a hose had come loose from the cockpit shower unit and we lost quite a bit of fresh water straight into the bilge – Brian fixed it. This morning he was looking for a part for another project and discovered that the previous leak created more problems and some damage that we were not aware of; the whole aft berth where all of his tools are stored had been flooded. So EVERYTHING was taken out and spread all over the boat; inside and out to dry out – the cockpit was layered in all of the sandpaper he brought – took all day for everything to dry out. I caught up on laundry which takes hours but it kept me out of his hair and off the boat. Also downloaded pics from Joey of “My Pleasure” and copied some of ours to her thumb drive – this was a big deal for me as I’m not great with the computer but I figured it out. Joey and Jim hoisted Brian part way up the mast to reset his spinnaker pole (pics)

2/20/13 Left Nassau. Brian maneuvered the boat out of the slip; we were just about aground, but it was sandy so we gunned through it. Once out, I took over the helm and pulled around to the next dock down for diesel. There was already one boat on the diesel dock and another one waiting, so I got in behind the waiting boat and then “Bob Ra Anne” and “My Pleasure” got in line behind us. It’s not easy trying to keep the boat in line – between the current, wind, tide….. and jockeying around so that you don’t hit any other boats and there was a rather large trawler that was trying to cut in front of us – he would edge in then I would move closer to the boat in front of me – after a couple of times, it just got too risky – didn’t want to hit the boat in front of me so Brian finally yelled over that there was a line – the trawler finally backed off. I was able to finally bring the boat to the dock without much ado. About a third of the way to Allan’s Cay our boat started making some weird noises and then just stopped motoring (we were motor/sailing). Come to find out we were completely out of transmission fluid. Yes, we checked all that needed to be checked on the engine before we left. Brian thinks that with all the bucking around the boat was doing in the slip because of the high winds, that when he did his systems checks the fluids must have been sloshing around so it looked like we were good to go. At first Brian thought we had a prop problem; we brought the boat into the wind and dropped the main sail, dropped an anchor (it was shallow traveling), he jumped overboard and checked. Prop was in place and looked fine and there was nothing tangled on it. Once on board, he rechecked all of the fluids again. In the meantime, we radioed our traveling companions - both boats turned around for us. “My Pleasure” was going to tow us back to Nassau if it had been anything major – geesh!! Awfully nice of them!! Once we were on our way again, Brian radioed “Bob Ra Anne” and “My Pleasure” and offered to share his unopened bottle of Macallans with them – the guys jumped at it. Sorry, Bobby – we originally were going to open it when you and Cait came to visit us, though there is plenty left. The guys thoroughly enjoyed it.

Dinners: Pork chops with sautéed mushrooms and onions along with couscous with parsley
Community Dinner with Bob Ra Anne and My Pleasure: Grilled Pork Loin, Green Bean Casserole and twice cooked red potatoes
Had my first rum and coke – tasted similar to cream soda, but a bit too sweet for me
Baked mac n Cheese – the real deal

2/21/13 Brian helped Bob of “Bob Ra Anne” with cutting down his battens to properly fit his sails while I chatted with Barbara – she liked my Cinderella dress. Prior to that Brian and I went around and checked everyone’s anchors to make sure they had stayed put as it was a rather windy night and a pretty strong current running through – a bit of bucking (the boat – lol) going on all night, but not uncomfortable. We all dinghied over to another outcrop of an island to check out the iguanas – took pics, collected shells, walked around the spit of land that takes 20 minutes total if you don’t stop. Once back around to our dingies, we took a swim – refreshing!!! The colors of the water are incredible – just like the post cards – so many different shades of blue and blue/greens. There are probably about 10 boats total that are anchored in this area.

Reading: Brian: Corsair by Clive Cussler w/ Jack Du Brul
Lauren: Finished Tales of the South Pacific by James Michener and started Sole Survivor by Dean Koontz

2/22/13 Left Allan’s Cay and headed for Norman’s Cay. Haven’t seen much for marine life except for two dolphins. Brian dived the 20 feet to check everyone’s anchors. After that he spent some time snorkeling around the boats – not much down there, mostly sand, though he did find the biggest sand dollar – he brought it up and just before he broke the surface the sand dollar broke in two – very disappointing. Spent two days at Norman’s – took a long walk partially around the island and Brian found a nice starfish totally intact. One day we all dingyied to the other side of the island looking for conch. Other than tons of conch, not much else – a few little fish. Snorkeled around and enjoyed the water. On the way back to our boat the occupants of our dinghy saw a huge ray jump out of the water and crash back down – awesome sight!!! Brian cleaned out two large conchs, refrigerated them and we haven’t decided what we will do with the meat yet. We did sample a raw piece with fresh lime juice and sea salt – it was good. Gave Brian a haircut –he was looking rather raggedy. Shook out the rug and comforter, wiped inside of boat down and vacced.

Community Dinner: Appetizer was conch fritters – very good along with pan fried tilapia, ratatoullie, mashed potatoes and my contribution was a spice cake (boxed) with home made cream cheese frosting

2/34/13 – HAPPY BIRTHDAY BONN!!!

2/24/13 Left Norman’s Cay and headed for Warderick Wells (Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park). Absolutely no fishing within the park boundaries which covers 176 protected square miles of subtropical waters, coral reefs and fish-breeding grounds. Coming into this protected area to moor is just absolutely breath taking. Postcards and I’m sure any pics I take will not do it justice; looks like we will be here for several days. “Dolphin” is here and Adrian came right over to tell us about a good area to snorkel, so Brian and I jumped right in and dinghyied over to the spot. The current was running a bit, so it was rather tiring – I did start to panic, but worked hard to get back to the dinghy – hung onto the dinghy for a few minutes to catch my breath and let my heart slow down. We got to see lots of colorful fish, tons of different coral and even a nurse shark.

Dinner: White rice with leftover pork from a salad and made a sweet and sour sauce with cut green pepper, leftover fresh pineapple chunks

Taught Bob and Barb from “Bab Ra Anne” to play Liverpool. They requested a game tonight – who am I to pass up a game of Liverpool – lol and boy, Barb is a tad competitive – enjoyed the game.

2/28/13 Two days ago a group of us decided to take a hike to the pirates lair – we were told it was a two hour hike – we left at 9:10 and made it back to the dinghy at 3:45. It was exhausting!!!! Jim and Joey from “My Pleasure”, Bob and Barb from “Bob Ra Anne” and Pat (Paddy) from “New Moon” joined us on this adventure. I was a bit concerned when we picked up Pat from her boat as she was wearing crocs with no back strap – Pat is 73. We were told the hike was going to be a bit of a workout. She said she would be fine and she was for the most part. About 10 minutes into the hike we had to cross a black mangrove nursery – the tide was up, so Brian led our party across – the sand was rather soft in one spot – the water was up to our hips. Jim who trailed last lost his croc and then his balance and almost went completely down, while trying to keep Joey’s camera out of the water – the camera got wet. Not a great start to the day. I was glad I actually wore an old pair of sneakers as most of the hike is over iron rock – treacherous – you have to constantly look at where you step – tons of holes and sharp edges. We all brought food and water (not enough water), took a dip on the Atlantic side of the island to cool off. About ¾ of the way through, Pat started to flag and she fell twice, but didn’t get hurt – just her pride. She was upset ‘cause she felt she was holding everyone else back – I think everyone else was glad for the little breaks we took so Pat could cool down and catch her breath. She finally called it quits and hailed her husband with her handheld VHF. We waited with her on a beach while John came to rescue her. Barb went back with them also as she has knee problems and was hurting. After that 15 minute break, the rest of us just didn’t want to move, but we pushed on and actually lost the trail for a few minutes – not well marked. Finally made it back – we were too tired to even talk to each other. We took pics of the island and the anchorage. Weather is not suppose to be great end of this week, so we will stay put til it clears. Plenty of snorkeling and hiking to do while we are here. Are not allowed to take any shells from the area – they do like us to pick up trash, though, so we do that when we go out for hikes. No services here, but we like it – it’s quiet and protected from high winds. Absolutely no fishing.

Learned how to play Mexican Train – a dominoes game – lots of fun.
Brian made home made cinnamon roles – Yep – they were a huge hit!!!

Dinners: Leftovers
Community dinner on our boat. Spaghetti with meat sauce, tossed salad by Nina from “Dolphin”, apps and drinks by everyone else and I made a creamsicle pie with a chocolate cookie crust and whipped topping

Reading: Finished Dean Koontz’ Lone Survivor
Starting Sarah’s Key by Tatiana De Rosnay – recommended by my friend Judy
Brian is reading Strange Highways by Dean Koontz

3/3/13 HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAM – (3/1/13)!! “My Pleasure” and “Bob Ra Anne” left to start back north. Hopefully someday, we will see them again. Went for a short hike to Boo Boo Hill to check out the blow holes and then over to Boo Boo Beach and then back to the boat. Took a walk with Nina on the sand bar at low tide – that was a workout especially when we had to turn around and walk against the current – saw two smaller rays and lots of sand dollars, but you are not suppose to collect anything from the park or do any fishing. Saw a huge ray the next morning near our boat. Got together with Kathy and Mark from “Nancy Lu” and Adrian and Nina of “Dolphin” for a community dinner. Yesterday had a cold front come through – a bit of rain, but the winds hit gusts of 39 knots. We were actually rather comfortable – not much moving around – the winds kept up all day and through the night. Nina and Adrian came over for a movie and then ended up staying though dinner. We taught them how to play Liverpool and Adrian taught us how to play Wist – some similarities to the game of Spades.
Sitting tight for today – rather cool here and waiting for the weather to die down a bit. Will leave tomorrow morning and head further south.

Dinners: Community dinner: Grilled marinated chicken thighs, green beans and left over spaghetti mixed with dices tomatoes, kale, mozzarella, sautéed garlic and onion, shredded parm cheese on top and baked
Carrots and tuna noodle casserole made with left over spaghetti (cooked way too much pasta the other night, but easy enough to use the leftovers)
Cheeseburgers with potato salad
Out of most of my fresh vegetables and fruits – once we get to George Town, we will be able to re-provision

Some of the Baking I’ve done: Cranberry nut bread - but used cranraisins, molasses lemon cookies, beer bread, blueberry buckle, chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal cookies, butternut chewies, blueberry lemon bread, peanut butter cookies, white bread with yeast….and a banana bread with coconut

Reading: Finished Sarah’s Key (thanks, Judy) and started The Litigators by John Grisham


3/7/13 We’ve been anchored at Big Majors for the past 2 ½ days. Did a little bit of snorkeling and enjoyed the swimming pigs. Saw some huge rays and quite a few brown sharks (big), which are nurse sharks (pic). Brian speared a “lobster” – they are actually not a lobster, but a mutant crayfish, but it got away. Saw tons of sea urchins – we may get a few and see what they taste like – we’ve been reading about them and how to prepare them. Brian has been working all morning on our macerator pump for the head – he discovered that the impella inside the pump was shredded. He finally took off for the island to see if he could get a part (I’m thinking, not). While he was gone I did a small load of whites (hung everything out except my panties ((I refuse to hang them out for the world to see)) and cleaned up from breakfast – bacon and eggs and toast from a home made white bread we bought from a woman on the island that bakes and sells only breads (if she was baking in the states, she would have been shut down – not exactly the cleanest kitchen, BUT the bread is delicious!!). Yesterday the winds and waves picked up (we were expecting the front). Took the dinghy out anyways for a bit looking for new areas to snorkel – it was like riding a bronco. Last night the winds were rather strong and the boat was rocking quite a bit, but have to say we were not at all uncomfortable – do I dare say, I’m getting use to living aboard??? During the night we both checked to make sure we were not dragging our anchor – all was well and I actually slept pretty well. This morning got up about 6 and took a peak out – noticed a loose dinghy banging against the rocks – we let our dinghy down and Brian picked up the guy next to us, ‘cause we noticed his dingy was gone – he went with Brian, but it wasn’t his, though he did find his – it was deflated and underwater – hopefully he will be able to salvage the outboard. Found the owner of the missing dinghy – they were grateful for the rescue.

The day before we left Big Majors Brian set out a fishing pole from the boat with a small fish head – it attracted a good sized nurse shark. Then a manta ray swam in and the nurse shark kept edging the ray away – this went on for about a half hour. The shark did grab the bait but let it go.

Reading: Red Mist by Patricia Cornwell
Brian finished Strange Highways then whipped through Vince Flynn’s American Assassin and is now reading Pinkerton’s Secret by Eric Lerner