MIDORI ADVENTURES

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

We spent two days in Hope Town walking about the picturesque little town. "The Boys" walked up the 100 steps of the Lighthouse while Rose and I did a little souvenir shopping. Unfortunately, the reef on the Atlantic side was a bit too rough to snorkel, but we found a resort with a fresh water pool where we could refresh ourselves and have a cold drink. When Brian and I heard about another weather front coming through, we decided that we should probably start heading North again and get through "the whale" before the weather turns, however, our other boat buddies will travel further South to Little Harbor before they start heading back.

We said our goodbyes to Bob, Lenny, Vernon and Rose on Friday night before our departure on Saturday morning for Green Turtle Cay. There was a ceremonial signing of the sprouting coconut which will be planted conspicuously on some island where cruisers might find some shade.

When we passed Great Guana Cay on Saturday, the west wind was blowing directly into the harbor and although we would have loved to go back there, it would not have been a comfortable anchor, so we carried on to Green Turtle Cay and covered the 26 nautical miles in 5 hours with some help from the jib sail. The passage through The Whale was nice and easy.

We are now back at the Bluff House Marina and thoroughly enjoying the pool and showers and shore power as we await a weather window to cross the gulf stream to Fort Pierce, Florida. There is still two full days of travel though from Green Turtle to Great Sale Cay to West End, but the gulf stream is not looking good for passage until sometime next week.

In the meantime, we were delighted to see GERU come into White sound on Sunday. We met Geoff and Ruth in Brunswick back in December. This younger Canadian couple is from Ottawa and have sailed their Prout 37 Catamaran from the Rideau Canal, through Lake Ontario, the Erie Canal, New York City, New Jersey, the Chesapeake Bay to Norfolk and down the ICW. They gave up their jobs and sold their home to live aboard and will be sailing for the next couple of years. They are holed up in Green Turtle waiting for a weather window South. They hope to make it through the Bahamas, Turks & Caicos and Luperon, Dominican Republic by July. We have thoroughly enjoyed the sharing of our "adventures" and spent yesterday doing the golf cart tour of New Plymouth with them. We actually said our goodbyes last night, as we hoped to get away to Great Sale Cay, but as they say "THE PLANS OF CRUISERS ARE WRITTEN IN JELLO", and after checking the weather reports this morning decided to stay put for another couple of days.

Tomorrow, the four of us have been invited on a 58' motor yacht for a day trip to Powell Cay. This is an uninhabited island with beautiful beaches North of here. Charlie and E.J. are from Georgia and awaiting a weather window South.

I will not attempt to add photos to the blog until we have a strong wifi signal back in the States.

Stay tuned...............

First Mate Lynn