Monday, January 16, 2012

and on and on we go, the seconds tick the time out




sunrise looking past stocking island toward inlet

dolphins swimming by boat in anchorage

needle fish at bow.  you can see the white bridle line that goes out of focus


michael of sv celilo said the other night when we were sitting at the beach for the sun down. "this really does not suck"  was funny cause the no see um's were out like crazy. but it was a great sunset.  most of them are just like the sunrises.

we are both going to maryland on the 18th (19th when we get in).

i wrote a big long blog yesterday and with this sketchy wifi connection it got lost, it also sends emails twice so sorry.

we have met lots of people   4 different boats from the magothy river.  we are getting used to this place so the learning curve is not so steep right now, but once we leave i am sure it will become steep again.  new adventures

speaking of adventures   kirk hitch hiked with some other boaters up the road to a "lumber" store the other day and came back with his back covered in grease.  he did not know when he leaned up against the back of a pick up truck that it had old burnt nasty grease.  then he came into the laundry and got clean clothes, went out back and changed them.  i was able to get most of the grease out of the shorts, but i think the shirt is a goner.  anyway was pretty funny.

i tend to meet people at the laundry and at the little shack where you can get internet.  is funny to put peoples faces with the radio voices.  the radio is like the phone here.  you radio businesses, other cruisers, for the water taxi, for a land taxi etc.  most cruisers carry a portable vhf 


all for now.


Tuesday, January 10, 2012

broken toe - strong spirit - realignment


about 6 days ago i was most anxious to have internet and decided that i was taking my computer over to volley ball beach.  for those of you who do not know i fell (once again) off the side of the dingy and into the water.  actually the dingy kinda ran over me.  anyway, the backpack got wet and so did my computer.  i then proceeded to have a melt down.  had to get my self back on the right track which is what i have been working on.  no internet till today.  so sorry i have not posted i have been reassessing what is really important to me.  ruining my new computer went to the bottom of the list.  only to find out today that i can still use it i just have to have 110.  so see as soon as you let go of something it works out.  enough

so we have been hanging out in sand dollar anchorage.  it really is beautiful here.  everything on the boat has been going well till this am when i found our head leaking.  but the real news is i caught my little toe on a line this morning and hurt it.  then i was hobbling around in the galley and was not moving as expected by kirk and our feet met and wowwweeee  pulled that little toe again.  i think it was kinda sticking out a little.  but now it is definitely a boo boo.  my foot is swollen and black and blue.

yesterday we went over to the same spit we went to on christmas day with c & e but walked further.  we watched a ray come in from the ocean and swim up into the shallows.  was wild.  the tide was really low so we could walk all over the sand bars.  i was practicing my dingy skills i.e.  starting, driving and getting out and in without falling in the water!!!!  the other morning i saw a turtle swimming by the boat.  it was really pretty

we have met some more people.  some we met up with in lucaya are here and today the cruisers on a boat (cat) named "One White Tree" came over and introduced themselves.  "One White Tree" is from J R R Tolkien just as Ainulindale is.  so we had a little  Lord of the Rings chat.   the funny part is people in volley ball beach anchorage told them where we were.  Kirk had talked with them when Irene came through annapolis in the summer.  but we never caught up with them in maryland.  they are from canada.

tonight we are going to the "rake and scrape" at Eddie's Edgewater.  should be interesting trying to dance with a broken toe.  also fun crossing the channel at night.  it is rough again.  was a bouncy ride into town this morning.  actually it has been rocking and rolling for 2 days.  the ocean was 5 - 6 feet swells today.  i am glad i am in here and that we do not have to go any where for fuel.

we took the boat over to the fuel dock here at georgetown after kirk checked the fuel by buying five gallon jug and then pouring it into the boat a few days ago.    we used the baha filter on the one side and kirk decided that the fuel was good enough that we did not have to use the filter for the other side.   is a slow process putting fuel into the boat using the filter but it beats having water and sand in your tanks.  

will report on the rake and scrape

The rake and scrape was fun.  i sure wish i could dance like the bahamaian men.  they were something to watch.  another new experience.  the music was not rustic but was fun.  looks like another beautiful day here.  






Tuesday, January 3, 2012

move back to sand dollar

First thing this morning kirk installed the new gps cable and wha la  the nav started to work again.  

the weather is calling for big north winds again.  so we have moved back to sand dollar anchorage.  a whole bunch of boats came over to this anchorage.  we went into town today.  it was completely closed down.  so quiet.  was fun to walk along what is usually a bustling street and see maybe one or two cars.  

kirk said tonight being here was like living on a different planet.  i must say it is very different than anything i have ever experienced.

january 3rd

just got updated weather   now calling for gusts up to 40.  the one cold front slowed down and another formed.  oh boy.  kirk is debating putting out a second anchor or at least resetting our anchor.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

navigation problem solved not fixed yet

figured out that it was the gps connection.  in the connector itself  was defective.  bummer.  a cruiser from next door who is an electrician and an IT person came over and helped kirk.  that was so great.  he even had the connection replacement part on his boat.  so tomorrow we may be back up and running.  yahoo.  nothing to fix  well the freezer has been giving us problems so we will deal with that tomorrow.  

laugh of the day.  i fell out of the dingy going to   mind you TO the chat and chill.  stone cold sober.    again i got fooled by the depth of the water.  the hysterical part is i had on a skirt and it got all wet so i was wet from about hip down.  ah you got to laugh.  the water was really calm after the storm blew through today.  you could see the bottom as clear as could be from the boat and we are in 20 feet of water.  was really cool.  not so cool when i fell in off the dingy.  so glad that the nav system is on the way to being fixed.  kirk needed more stress like a hole in the head. 

so the new year started out with a solution to a problem and a big laugh when i fell overboard.  sorry no pics of that

may be new year bring us all happiness, peace, love and compassion.  



January 1, 2012

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR

 

Sea Talk Failure – Check Connections

 

My how those words have haunted us for 2 days.  Yesterday, we were going to get fuel and the navigation system went haywire.  When we fired up the system the above message came on.  We  spent all day yesterday tracing connections to no avail, most of the evening talking about it, trying to logically figure out how it was configured as kirk did not do all the work.  Some of the system was installed when we got the boat.  Uh oh   in case you did not know, if you do not put it in/on yourself you do not know what to look for when a problem occurs.  PRAISE GOD this did not happen in the middle of the ocean.  (always a positive side)

 we did see some Bahamian sloops racing yesterday. 

 

Cruisers mid night was 10 pm and some brave souls went out into the middle of the channel and shot off old flares.  Today we got a report on what ones were good, what ones burned your hand, etc.  since we are anchored furthest out on the anchorage we had the birds eye view of the flare demonstration.  The boat had a red glow.  There were also some sparklers on the beach.  I had fallen asleep and the radio woke me up about the flares.  

So far today we have been tracing wires and talking through set up.  It rained last night and a storm blew in a while ago.  I think that is rare for this area.  Is kinda cloudy now which keeps the temp down which is lovely.

The friends we met in lucaya that lived in manhattan beach are coming back today from the states.  Hope to see them today on the beach.