Jazzy Lady's 2019/20 Cruising Adventure

Vessel Name: Jazzy Lady
Vessel Make/Model: Catalina
Hailing Port: Montreal
Crew: Meg, Mark, Annie, Alistair
23 April 2020
30 March 2020
25 March 2020
13 March 2020
21 February 2020
21 February 2020
08 February 2020
16 January 2020
09 January 2020
03 January 2020
29 December 2019 | Paradise
17 December 2019
12 December 2019
06 December 2019
06 December 2019
24 November 2019
Recent Blog Posts
23 April 2020

REFLECTIONS

30 March 2020

Night Watch

(March 28th)

25 March 2020

Emergency Migration

Emergency Migration

13 March 2020

The Three Musketeers

Mark has gone away for four week-long stints of work, one each month since December. The first time we had Tracy with us, the second time we had my Mom with us, last month we had Walden to play with every day after school and this month it was just us three musketeers:) So it actually felt like [...]

01 March 2020

Jazzy Lady bursts at the seams

*This post starts while on the last full day of our trip, and ends a few days after our arrival home.

21 February 2020

Still in Spanish Wells

At home one of my favourite summer delights is lying in a hammock listening to the wind rustle through oak or maple leaves. Another audible treat is the smoother, lighter swishing of the wind through the needles of a pine tree. Here in Bahamas I am storing the audio memory of wind through palm trees. [...]

The Three Musketeers

13 March 2020
megan osler
Mark has gone away for four week-long stints of work, one each month since December. The first time we had Tracy with us, the second time we had my Mom with us, last month we had Walden to play with every day after school and this month it was just us three musketeers:) So it actually felt like my first time really being on my own with A&A since this trip began. Although I was dreading it, I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. It was a real treat having no one else to focus on and be distracted by. When we have company aboard or even if it’s just the four of us, I get so caught up chatting with the grownups and not checking in with the kids very often. So when I DO communicate with the kids it’s just to nag at them: ‘Do your schoolwork, get your clothes on, brush your teeth, wash the dishes, tidy your room, stop arguing, get your PJs on, brush your teeth, go to bed.’ But in our week as the three musketeers we sometimes stayed in bed until 10 am reading together. We did laundry, school work, scrapbooking, baking, science experiments, crafts and some beach exploring. The two kids together had some epic playtime, a phenomenon that, already at this age, is becoming almost extinct and downright miraculous at times since A&A are at each other’s throats a quarter of their lives now that Annie is 10 going on 16. They dressed up in bizarre outfits and made silly movies with my iPad, they built LEGO houses with an ongoing make-belief story line that lasted many days off-and-on (thanks, Jasper for the goods you left behind!) and they played Matchington Mansion on my IPad which has no educational value excep, I guess, to encourage co-operation because they are somehow able to play it together without fighting. Ultimately, we spent a week revelling in idle time that allowed for absurd banter, as well as questions and discussions on general topics that make the world go ‘round. Valuable snippits which, upon our return to reality, may become very scarce indeed.
Mark returned to us in Rock Sound a week ago...last Thursday. We lifted anchor first thing Friday morning and had a tremendous sail across Exuma Sound to Shroud Cay in the north end of the Exuma islands chain. It was a TWELVE hour day!!! South West winds of 15 knots but upwind the whole time so a 40 mile day with very gradual progress and plenty of tacking to keep Jazzy Lady on her toes. Big-time heeling! Being so close to sunset at anchor time, our hand was forced in choosing the first safe anchorage with just barely enough protection. We rocked and rolled from sun down to sun up. It was the most sleepless night we’ve had in JL. We had as many things falling out of place as we do on heavy-heeling sails. Mark and I slept horizontally across our little Pullman Birth because staying vertical would have had us rolling out of bed. We were on the eve of yet another major ‘wind event’ where the wind direction was doing a very abrupt 180 degree switch from SW to NE. With the Exuma Islands lying between two big bodies of water, we found ourselves casualties of the resulting turmoil.
After the disruption of our propellor woes, we had to face the disappointment of missing out on the explorations of a few key islands we had been really excited about. We missed most of Long Island and two much smaller, remote islands north of Long...Conception and Cat (for those interested in looking on a map). Instead of following our hearts’ temptations to sail the mere 25 miles from South Eleuthera down to Cat Island we knew the more sensible decision was to head back across to the Exumas. Although we were already in the area at the beginning of December, we skipped through it very quickly to get ourselves down to Georgetown for Christmas. Now we are taking our sweet time, ending the trip right by SLOWING down, again, to a snail’s pace and soaking up our surroundings. We are in a nationally protected area called Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park. All line fishing and spear fishing is prohibited, even shell collecting is illegal. ‘Take only Pictures, Leave only Footprints’ So the snorkelling opportunities are the best in all of Bahamas. It covers roughly 160 sq miles.
We are anchored at O’Brien’s Cay right now and will head to Cambridge Cay tomorrow. After Cambridge Mark will be back to his Lobster spearing escapades and we’ll end up in Staniel Cay for his next work pairing....that is if Air Transat is still operating any flights by then....we were away from internet range for 5 days and, of course, in that time the Corona Virus transitioned from Epidemic to Pandemic. In the years leading up to this trip we always half joked with people that our soul motivation was to be away for whatever type of apocalyptic event (which, for decades, has seemed an inevitability) was going to hit the world. Now we’re looking at one. ....Of course this is in addition to the Climate Change apocalypse we’ve been living for decades already.... Now that we are back online we are learning new developments EVERY HOUR. It feels very surreal. Perhaps we will not cross back over to the US next month....we’ll see how long the situation continues to get worse before it improves.

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