05/05/2009, Long Island, Bahamas
Today we raised anchor at 0645 and sailed out of Elizabeth Harbour towards Long Island. Long Island is a little under forty miles east of Elizabeth Harbour; an leisurely eight-hour motorsail.
We barely venture out into the deep water as we leave the south (east) entrance to Elizabeth Harbour, then duck back onto the shallow banks for the remainder of the trip to Long Island. I can't begin to explain the beauty of the water on these shallow (mostly sand) banks. It is absolutely captivating!
We chugged along under power and sail for most of the trip. We sailed without motor for a while, but the ladies wanted to get a move-on & get in to Salt Pond, Long Island early enough to arrange a car-rental for the next day to tour the island ... so I restarted the engine. It's been a long-time since I've flown our asymmetrical spinnaker so I thought I'd give it a try in the light-air. We weren't perfectly downwind & maybe a little too far off the wind for spinnaker flying (as it turned out). I rigged the spinnaker with the halyard, sheet, blocks and pole. As I was cranking in the sheet, I had to crank it over quite a ways & the pole hit one of the cable stays (cables that hold up the mast) & bent my spinnaker pole (kind of a big deal). I sure felt silly, bending my spinnaker pole.
I rigged several trolling lines for the trip over. The middle line we lost two lure-rigs, as they seem to have been hit by fish and broken off. After no-activity for a while, I finally looked back to see a fish flopping on the surface of the water; a small barracuda. Barracuda are good to eat, but are prone to ciguatera (a toxin that if enough is ingested, causes very nasty sickness). Supposedly, the smaller ones are okay to eat, but we are being cautious so threw him back anyway. Later I caught another much larger Barracuda. They are exciting to boat, as they've got large nasty teeth. Fun to grab the fish and get hook out of his mouth without killing it, nor losing a finger.
At Salt Pond, we anchored near the Long Island Breeze resort, where they have a dingy dock open to cruising boats ... a very friendly place really. The harbour is VERY shallow at low tide, so picking your way in and anchoring without hitting bottom requires one to pay attention.
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Comments [2]
see www.watchmanjohn.com
Keep up the work. God Bless
05/04/2009, Georgetown, Exuma, Bahamas
The kids made a number of friends with other sailing kids in Georgetown. Most afternoons found them on one beach or another playing with their friends. It's been a highlight to have other kids to play with, as most places we've been, there've been few. A few days ago, most of their friends sailed away (& we are about to as well). Their friends departed for various islands; some working their way north, back to the United States and Canada while others are working their way towards the Dominican Republic to hunker down for hurricane season. It was pretty hard for for Jacquie & Ben to say good-bye to friends they may not see again.
Sue's good friend Lori arrived to visit for a couple weeks. The kids have been so looking forward to having Auntie Lori come. She'll be with us for a couple weeks, sailing around to different places & seeing the Bahamas.
We are planning to leave Georgetown on Tuesday morning for Salt Pond, Long Island; a little under forty miles to the ESE of our current location in Elizabeth Harbour. We should be able to rent a car and explore the island a bit.
We've enjoyed our stay in Georgetown, but as we've been here a month, we are SO looking forward to moving on. Georgetown is a VERY social place for cruisers. There are so MANY boats that there is an over abundance of social activities, art classes, bridge, volleyball, potlucks and bon fires. It's the first place we really did a lot of socializing with other cruisers vs. the local Bahamians.
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12/25/2008, Holmes Rock, Bahamas
Our friends Eddie and Margo, invited us to join them for Christmas Dinner. Later we found out that dinner was to be at her Mom's house....but Mom didn't know we were coming yet. We are learning about Bahamian hospitality....of course Mom would welcome us....and she did. Margo's parents and siblings made us very welcome and made us feel included....like one of the family.
Margo's Dad (Al) walked me around the property (while we were waiting for others to arrive) telling me of building the place with his own hands forty years earlier, showing me the trees, his future plans for building a garden and giving me a warm welcome.
Imagine turkey, ham, cracked conch, fried fish and all kinds of other yummy Bahamian food....love it, love it, love it. We were warned that Margo's family was loud, are they ever. Football game blaring, folks visiting loudly & eventually dancing to Bahamian Shake n' Scrape in Mom's kitchen and living room.
We enjoyed the time and the very warm family hospitality.
Glenn.
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12/19/2008, Freeport, Bahamas
When we arrived here on Grand Bahama, we docked behind an apartment building owned by a friend of a friend. Because we are here to preach the Gospel, he gave us a very discounted rate and welcomed us to the island. We stayed there for a month, as we adjusted to the new culture, made new friends and learned to get around the island on foot, bicycle and city bus.
The location is a bit isolated and with few people around. Jacquie and Ben made friends with a couple kids who live in the apartment building, Michael and Mia. Every day our kids would watch the clock 'till Michael and Mia would be home from school, studies done, baths taken and they could come out to play around 5:30, for a few minutes before sunset.
After a while I could see that it was a little hard for Sue and the kids to be isolated in a new country, with few people around and without a reasonable way to get anywhere by themselves. One day, Sue mentioned that there were an awful lot of Canadian boats in the marina around the corner in the next canal. To be honest, I didn't know there was a marina around the corner (not paying attention I guess). I hopped in the dingy right then and buzzed over to the next canal and chatted with some of the boaters (mostly Canadian). After a few days, we moved Seawing to the new marina. Boaters are so helpful, we'd not even made it to our new slip when they spotted us and a crowd of them ran to the docks to take lines and help us into our new home.
Though a little more money, it is still quite affordable (cheaper than living in Canada by far) and far easier for my family. There are lots and lots of other boaters to meet and socialize with, tourist to meet (also a time-share resort) and great facilities. We are now able to enjoy two pools, a hot-tub, free dinner and games Monday nights (kids are building their wardrobe by winning t-shirts most weeks), shuttle to the beach daily, grocery runs weekly and more. We are enjoying it here & it allows me to freely go downtown and preach every day without feeling like I'm leaving my family all alone.
Wanna come visit?
Glenn.
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12/17/2008, Freeport, Bahamas
A friend of mine is a pastor here on Grand Bahama. He'd been contacted by a Pilipino lady (living here and married to a Bahamian), who works with largely Pilipino crewmembers from a cruise that docks here on the island one day every week. We learned that there are quite a number of believers amongst the crew and that they've formed a network of Christian Fellowships on almost all of the ships of this cruise line. Several of these were requesting they be baptized, in obedience to the commands of scripture, thus they'd contacted my friend, the pastor.
Eddie (the pastor) called me and asked me to accompany him and assist. It was very cool to meet these bright believers in Jesus Christ and hear their testimonies of Biblical faith. One-by-one they joined us in the surf of Williams Town Beach and were baptized (tourists curiously looking-on). I joined Eddie two weeks in a row for this privilege.
Glenn.
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12/13/2008, Williams Town Beach, Freeport, Bahamas
I know this seems crazy & those of you in the frozen north will be incredulous, but we were here on the island for about a month, before we ventured to the beach for some sun and sand. We'd just been so busy doing school, working on the boat, me out preaching and meeting with new friends. It was a welcome time of fun and relaxation.
Glenn.
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