This picture of Hope Town is our last fond remembrance of the Bahamas until we return after our Grandaughter "Anwen" is born! In the meantime we will enjoy our family and get into the Christmas spirit!
G.A. is "on the hard" getting yearly maintenance and a good safe place to leave her while we are gone. Everyone have a terrific Holiday season! Love to all, Dave and Beth

Here is a shot of all the people on this beach. (Typical) There is some erosion from Hurricane Irene. We walked about 4 miles today. Had a Kalik and a Guiness"On Da Beach", a local establishment.

Today was another beach day and tonight we have lobster for dinner. Full moon has just come over the palms. A conch horn is blaring in the distance and we are waiting for dark to initiate our Christmas lights installed today!

We spent five days in Green Turtle Cay in a marina and it will probably be the last one we will be in for months, if not all season. So we splurged and didn’t feel too guilty. We took a few beach walks and enjoyed new friends from St Augustine and Wisconsin on a 43’ Tartan called Czechmate. We even ran into some “old” friends that we had met a couple years ago in the Exumas. They are from Vermont on a boat called “Plum Puppet”. Mostly though, we just relaxed from our months of work getting GratefulAttitudes ready for the trip and the sometimes grueling run down the east coast from North Carolina.
Yesterday, Wednesday, December 7th we made the trip around the “Whale Cay” passage, about 4 miles south of Green Turtle. It is an acknowledged dangerous passage, where many have lost their lives thinking it was safe. The large ocean swells “suck and swirl” over a reef and then roar down the two cuts into the sea of Abaco on either side of Whale Cay, an uninhabited rocky knoll about a mile long and a hundred yards or so wide. We have made the trip many times over the years and always wait until the “right” weather. We also wait until we hear someone else report on the radio that they have done it to be sure. This year was pretty good, a bit rolly, with 6 footers, but spread amply apart, probably 8-11 seconds between the peaks.
Unfortunately for the remaining 15 miles the wind was right on our nose so we had to motor south on the Sea of Abaco to Hope Town. We didn’t mind the 80 degree weather and sunny skies, so who needs a sail?
Arrival in Hope Town Harbor with it’s towering red and white lighthouse is always a treat. We came in at dead low tide, so we had inches under our hull, but again, experience told us it was safe. As we slid into the narrow entrance, a familiar face, Pete, from Lansing, Michigan hollered a “Hello, GratefulAttitudes” from a nearby dock. He and his wife Amy are former boaters and now rent here each winter. Since picking up a mooring for GratefulAttitudes, we have already greeted several locals and boaters we know from the past.
Last night we attended a party with our friends on “Czechmate” hosted by a local merchant, “Iggy Biggy” that sells various souvenirs, clothes, books, etc. They had a big sale and put out free food, wine, and beer, a cruisers dream come true! Quite frankly, they do okay, with all the locals, second home owners, and tourists besides, they seemed to have a good night of it.
Today we took a leisurely walk on one of the most beautiful beaches anywhere, collecting sea glass at the foot of the waves and mostly just getting sand in our pants/bathing suits.
Beth has begun to put up Christmas decorations and I guess we will wait until tomorrow to string our lights around the boat. That sounds like work….and we be in da Bahamas Mon!

December 2, 2011 Friday

Today we went for a walk on the back or banks side at the Bluff. In years past I’ve always found the prettiest green sea urchins along this shore. I haven’t been disappointed yet. We flushed out the wild parrots (they scared the daylights out of us) along the back side of the channel. This year they are down to 4 birds, like the wild horses of Abaco the herd/flock is getting smaller. They are so noisy the locals think they are a nuisance. They are a lot bigger than the native Bahamian parrots that we tracked down one year in Marsh Harbour at the dump. There might be some history I need to check with the locals on this. On our way back to the boat, Stacey who is an owner here at Bluff House invited us to a wine and cheese party the resort was hosting. They also planned to have dinner specials. I like a night out, and specials fit my budget. The event was scheduled to start at 6:00 so we arrived early at 6:30 to find the party was underway. We were surprised that things weren’t on “Bahamas Time.” As we mingled with the group, we found most people there were second home owners. We met many people out of Florida and up the coast, even Canada, who owned homes nearby. We were deciding to stay or leave when Dave started talking to a group of guys who sailed across the same night as us. They invited us to join them for dinner, and as they had more in common with us than “second home owners” (you really drink box wine?) “we decided to stay. We tried to order different items from each other when we eat out, so we can taste different food. We broke the rule and both ordered the blackened Mahi mahi. It was delicious! The Esssre pinot grigio from Italia was $9.00 a glass or $24.00 a bottle. I had 3 glasses that night and took half the bottle back to the boat. Our dinner included two sides. I had red skin potatoes and a Cesar salad, Dave had broccoli, and peas and rice. Our food was $24.00 each, so we’ve eaten up over two nights stay on our docking for dollars. Our new sailing friends insisted on buying our food, we planned a steak dinner on GratefulAttitudes in return. I may still have that lobster dinner here. The wind is howling and it’s good to be at The Bluff House.

Passage from Hobe Sound to Green Turtle
November 30, 2011 thru December 1, 2011

Wednesday
6:30am
Dave talked to Chris Parker and The Caribbean Weather Net on single side band radio (our weather person and good friend.) Dave; “We’re planning to go out at Stuart checking in at Green Turtle, Abacos. What do you see?” Chris; “Well let’s see now, you need to be on your way by around 10:00 or 11:00 am. Winds will be at 330degrees around 10 knots. Seas will be dying down to 2 to 4 feet. Reaching the Matanilla Shoals you’ll see winds 330 degrees increasing 13 to 17 knots, seas 4 feet. Now by mid-afternoon the winds will be out of the North at 15 to 17 with gusts over 20, increasing 20 to 25 knots with gusts at 040 degrees as time progresses. Oh did I mention, the seas in the gulf steam are 5 to 6 feet with a 6 to 8 second interval.”
Okay then!
Dave checks a number of different sources of weather on the internet. We talk. I can take 5 to 6 foot seas, no problem. Problem is a 6 second interval. With an 11 second interval we glide up one side and down the other of most big waves. With a smaller interval like a lot of wind chop, we do what I call a cat dance. One hull hits then the next, we jump, slam, bounce, jerk, slide left, slide right, thump, then bang! Dave thinks the other forecast looks a bit better, and the worst will only last about 8 hours, so? We be sailing!
8:00 am
Tried to leave our raft off of “Old Peculiar” and found we were stuck in the muck. Port side of the boat was on the bottom in 3.7 feet of water or less as the depth gauge does not take into account the depth of the mud! A little checking told us we were at dead low tide. Dave entered way points for our trip while I paced the deck.. When its time to go It’s time to go.
9:00 am
We left Hobe Sound heading north toward Stuart and Port St. Lucie Inlet. We passed Peck Lake where a few other cruising boats were anchored. It’s a beautiful beach preserve for sea turtles and birds that we’ve enjoyed with our family in years past, but not this year.

10:30 am
We’re out the channel after following temporary markers that are changed frequently due to shoaling. The path is narrow and not as popular as some other entry’s.
We were only waked once by a “sportfish”, there’s your proof. The entrance itself is narrow and lined by rocks with no lights on the buoys. Note to ourselves: Don’t ever do this one in the dark!
11:30am Steak and egg burritos
12:00 noon
N27*09.26’ W079*58.31’ The Gulf Stream is reported to be 10 miles off the Port Saint Lucie inlet, and we’re in it. The Little Bahama Banks waypoint is 47.2 miles away. We’re dancing through the fishing fleet under full sail and full power, back in what I call the beautiful plum colored sea.
2:50 pm
N27*08.60’ W079*41.70’ We are at what the chart calls the axes (middle or fastest speed) of the Gulf Stream. We’ve changed our waypoint to somewhere between the Little Bahama Banks and Matanilla Shoals to accommodate large seas on the beam. Thank goodness, the seas are 5 maybe 6 feet, but with a 10 or 11 second interval. The “problem” is the winds have died and are variable or out of the west. Water temperature 80.8 degrees. Theory (they say) says; the warmer the water, the faster the water, the closer to the center of the stream. The fast moving warm water is moving north and we want to go south, ergo the navigational unknown.
6:30pm Lynn’s’ Ham and Bean Soup
7:00pm
N27*10.100 W079*12.700’ 54.4 miles to Little Sale Cay, about 1 mile to the banks. Bearing of 103degrees, water temperature at 80.1degrees, under power with full main up. Seas have calmed a great deal.
7:20pm In 32 feet of water. Water temperature at 79 degrees. We must be on the banks!

December 1, 2011 Thursday

12:00 midnight N27*06.202’ W078*34.740’ On a course to Little Sale Cay, passing Lilly Sand Bank. We have 20.3 nautical miles to go, on a course of 104 degrees. Water temperature at 72.4 degrees.
3:30am
N27*03.412’ W078*10.714’ Little Sale Cay to Sale Rocks, bearing 108 degrees magnetic, our estimated time of arrival is 4:05am. Speed average between 7.2 and 7.9 knots, water depth at 16 feet. Gotta love the banks…sure wish I could see something, then again maybe not!
4:47am
N27*00.800’ W078*00.118’ Sale Rocks to Carter Bank bearing 116 degrees magnetic. speed 7.1knots ETA 5:15am
5:30am
N26*59.708’ W077*56.708’ Bearing 109* to Crab Cay, 17.8nm with 8:02 arrival time. Moving at 7.3knots in the darkest dark.
6:16am
N26*58.448’ W077*49.094’ 11.6nm to Crab Cay, trying to stay alert, bearing 110*, moving at 7.5knots of good wind with a 7:55am arrival. Passing by the lights of Fox Town.
6:30am
On the Carter Banks heading for Crab Cay waypoint, 11 miles out. Wind gusty at 20 plus from the north.
6:43am SUNRISE ;>)

8:30 to10:00am Going south down Great Abaco Island past Powell Cay, Coopers Town, Nunjack Cay, Crab Cay, making the turn east to Green Turtle White Sound to drop sail.
10:30am
N26*46.683’ W077*20.311’ heading 008*m bearing175*m off course 00.00*
Tied up at dock #25, Bluff House Yacht Club & Beach Hotel. All rates negotiable. We took $1.00 per foot “docking for dollars”. All food and drink cost are deductible from your fees, up to the cost of your dock!
Kiss Kiss “Cheated death again”