and on to nassau

go to bottom of post and read each day. pictures to follow hopefully tomorrow.

December 13^th, 2011

Gas Dock to Atlantis

Kirk decided in the morning after listening to the weather (chris parker) that we needed a secure place to hole up with the weather that was coming. Unfortunately for us we do not fit under the bridges in Nassau and the only marina before the bridge is the fancy dancy resort that is most expensive. Once we got in here and settled we worked on solving problems and cleaning up the mess from the previous day. Check out this place at Atlantis.com We explored a little last night and were fascinated by the rays check out kirks video. coming soon

We have worked on laundry, rugs, mast, chasing down where the water is coming in by our berth. Of course kirk the sleuth figured it out. Now we just have to fix it. Good news is the mast job held for our trip over here. We went out to dinner at an Italian place and had one drink and were both knocked on our buns. I do not know if from exhaustion or not. We will be eating Italian for a few meals which is good cause I do not have to cook.

December 12^th, 2011

Fraizers Hog Cay to Nassau

Upps change of plans. The winds had picked up and changed direction a bit and the boat was rocking like you were in rolly polly sea so instead of tracking down the water intrusion it was up and at em back in the ole ocean to get the Nassau. When the sky is blue and the sun is out the ocean is that color of blue that you can’t quite put a name to. But it sure is pretty. HOWEVER, when the sky is not sunny as it was not sunny today the ocean is an ugly black color. The sailing conditions were the same. Maybe a little worse. The swells were definitely bigger than the day before. They came is sets just like when you were a kid waiting to catch a wave and ride it into the beach. The timing between the swells is a big deal. If they are more than 8 seconds apart you can almost deal with them cause you ride from one to the other but if they are less than that it is hard work to steer the boat through them. Coming into Nassau harbor was another lesson and we are learning and taking our medicine. You have to ask permission of the harbor master if you can enter the harbor. You also have to give him your registration number and tell him where you are going and if you intend to clear customs.

Now for the nasty part

The truth be told there really is no good holding (anchoring) in Nassau. We found out the hard way. We were set with our anchor but then the current took control of the boat and swung us around way to close to another boat anchored next to us. Then the chain rode started rubbing against the boat. Then the anchor since I am sure it got flipped a few times started dragging. Now get this. It was dark. Felt like the old commercial “ever eat a pine tree?” well ever pick up your anchor after it is dragging, is under the boat and there were crab pots in the mix of all this in the dark where a sand bar is about 20 feet away? Kirk was a bundle of nerves. He was on the bow handling the anchor giving me directions while i tried to make the boat do what he wanted it to do with a really strong current and winds gusting to 25. Praise God there was a gas dock not far from where we were having an anchor up circus and we made our way over to it and tied up there for the night. The security guard came down and we told him our problem and he advised us when the gas dock opened in the am. So we were at least set and safe for the night. Kirk was still a bundle of nerves about damage to the hulls of the boat and how we were gonna get of this gas dock that the wind had us pinned to. I do not think or I know he did not sleep much that night even with a security guard. You hear stories of not leaving your boat unattended in Nassau.

One of the boats we have been traveling with was anchored across the channel and watched what was going on and was just about to get in his dingy to see if he could help us when I radioed and said all was well for the moment. They are very nice and supportive, have cruised these island a couple of times so are a wealth of information. We have not seen them but have talked on the radio. Is very nice to travel with buddy boats. I hope to see them in person some time soon.

Bulloch harbor to Fraizers Hog Cay berry islands

December 11, 2011

We had a beautiful sail leaving bulloch harbor. The water was not deep so you could see the bottom. The seas and the winds were behind us so not lumpy. A little to far behind us as we struggled along trying to make the way point. For the first time it was not hard work. Ah but then came the turn into the ocean and the seas were dead on the nose and with out the protection of an island they were once again ugly. We motored sailed through the cut and up the northeast provident channel. It was another rock and roll story. Yuk. Onto a little anchorage that runs on the back of Fraizers Hog Cay with bird cay at the entrance and looking at cockroach cay. The anchorage was cool cause it was skinny and long and on one side were flats that were asking to be explored and the other was a beach. We were even invited (all the boats in the anchorage were) to a pot luck the next afternoon on land. After two hard days of sailing we planned on staying put for a day and doing some r & r and exploring. Also planned on getting together with the two boats we had been sailing with.

It was not well protected but we were game, our anchor did well and even though it was blowing about 20 knots steady we felt secure. All was well even had a glass of wine. Sometime in the night we discovered that there is water in a cavity next to our bunk and that was a fire drill. Ah we will deal with it in the am, the boat was not taking on water just had water that we did not know the source.

lucaya to bulloch harbor, berry islands

December 10, 11

Hurrah we got off the dock this am. Kirk told me he was not settled with leaving so I went to the bath house thinking we were not leaving and when I got back he was putting lines on board. I am so happy we got off the dock. Today was an exciting day.

Words to describe the trip that were heard over the vhf (two other boats from Annapolis left also today, one couple lived across the creek next to magothy marina ((small world)) that are cruising together) words being crash and bash, lumpy, bumpy, rocking and rolling, smashing into, leaky this and leaky that, nasty etc.) today was supposed to be a calm day and we had winds no less than 16 knots up to 27, seas were a constant 3 – 4 but in some areas were 6-9 with your occasional “where did that come from” wave breaking over the bow soaking both of us. BUT WE MADE IT!!!!! A couple of boats came out of the marina and called to see if the conditions were any better further out and they turned back and headed back to the marina.

We saw those crazy flying fish as entertainment. The real entertainment of the day was when kirk left the helm and I was up there kinda sitting to the side with a towel wrapped around my legs ( it was cold in the wind) and all of a sudden I got hit in the leg from under the towel. So of course I screamed and jumped up. It was a beautiful flying fish about 8 – 10 inches long, blue in color with translucent wings, poor thing was flopping around. Kirk came flying up and started howling with laughter. I gave him the helm and tried to pick the fish by the tail. He flopped down the steps and onto the deck. Blue fish scales all over the place. I felt so badly for him(her) finally was able to swoosh him overboard. All this while we are crashing about. We had a few little blood stains but many more fish scales. So we now know that the bigger ones are blue. Still do not know about the little ones that appear to be white.

A whole new world awaited us today. Somehow the chart plotter got changed and we did not have any depths showing on the chart plotter. Kirk was most upset. You know the commercial about earning money “ we did it the old fashioned way” well that is how we had to come into this anchorage as the chart plotter did not show any depths. So good ole map reader (haha mj) donna got the paper charts and navigated us in here. Praise God there was a boat in here so kirk felt a little more at ease doing what I said. After anchoring (our first time in sand) wahoo !! you can see the anchor when it drops. I did not see it as I was at the helm but had checked it out when kirk was at the helm. Kirk told me to make sure we were in reverse when he dropped the hook as we were not sure how the anchor was gonna do in sand. It held!! Then we started trying to figure out why the depths on the chart plotter went away. I stayed back and out of the way as kirk is much better at that stuff than me. Once he put the manual down I started trying to figure it out and was giving him suggestions (haha kel). Anyway one of the things I asked him to do worked (declutter) and life started to improve on ainulindale`.

We watched the other two boats come in and anchor. They are following the army navy game and were a hoot to listen to on the vhf. They are very nice and checked in with us for a plan for tomorrow.

So today made up for all those boring days at the marina.

We really are doing it. Can you believe it? Or at least we are giving it our best try.

adventures at grand bahama yacht club

captain of the dingy

the boat from the movie ghost

Our boat in the distance. coming back from dingy ride up the channel

boat house with a hinkley underneath. they live upstairs. chandeliers in the boat house

c climbing wall on a power cat. this is for jenna

christmas tree in the crazy shopping place

here is a bridge we went under during our exploring

December 7, 11 to early am December 9, 11

We have been in grand Bahamas yacht club for a week now waiting on weather. We have had many experiences. We have been learning about the weather and how it affects tides and surge and what anchorages would be good due to conditions and what ones would not work. So much to learn.

We did go back to the tourist market to get gas in the dingy and check on the phone person and the crazy lady who wants to do my hair caught me being hit on by another hair person. Ah boy that was a crazy moment. “you come right now and I do your hair” yet she still has a big turban on her head. I decided against having my hair braided. Maybe when bif gets here. We had talked about it on our way down the coast.

I got a good dog fix from a seeing eye guide dob the other night. Her name was roxy and gave me good kisses all over my face. She was a lab. Sweet as can be.

We have done lots of work on the boat. Got the oil and fuel filters changed. Also the oil. Kirk has ordered bunches of replacement parts that Christian and Elizabeth will bring down. We had a an adventure going into town (not nice parts) to try and get filters down here and also a sim card for phone. Got ripped off on the sim card deal. Ended up buying a phone and putting 50 minutes on it for calls down here. We will continue to use the google call so if you see unavailable on your phone it could be us calling.

We went exploring in the dingy the other day and I took my phone to take pictures only to find out that mac and androids do not get along. So then I tried to email the pics. No such luck. I may try again today since there really is not much going on. I wanted to be fancy and put pics in with the next blog post. Since it did not work I was discouraged and have not written.

Hurrah I got it to work.

I apologize for the clarity of the pictures. I am still learning and when I can use my camera I hope they will get better.

It is now the 9^th of December. Can hardly believe it. 7 or 8 new boats came into the marina in the past two days cause the gulf stream was crossable. It is fun having the dock full of new people to meet. Two of the boats have dogs on board. One of the boats is a cruising family who rescued their dog off a deserted island off of panama. From the bits and pieces I have learned from talking to them they had to ask the leader of the tribe from the islands for permission to take the dog (puppy) is a heartwarming story and is in the November issue of Cruising World.

Yesterday the bilge pump blew off the dock. It was late in the afternoon and so we decided to wait till this morning sun to look for it. That has delayed us one more day in leaving. I believe that there are a bunch of boats leaving tomorrow.

Funny thing is we can see the bottom and it is over 15ft deep. Could not reach the bottom with the boat hook. So if we can see the pump we will go fishing with the grapnel to try and get it off the bottom.

So this morning I was going to the bath house and heard a big splash and then a flat spot out in front of the boat about 20 feet. When I came back I was looking for the bilge pump and this spotted ray came swimming up. Beautiful wingspan about 3 – 4 feet and this long skinny tail about 5 feet. Sorry no picture.

The other morning I went swimming with a Canadian couple. It was cold but so fun. I may go again today and get kirk to take a picture of me in this fountain that is in the pool. “under the Tuscan sun”

Doing a final load of laundry hopefully last load. Kirk just said maybe we should wait to go day after tomorrow. We shall see. now we are leaving on saturday. we put together as fortress anchor this morning and stowed it where if we need it we will have it. the holding down here is much different than the mud of the chesapeake. hopefully we will be in sand not grass. the wind has picked up again and tomorrow should be a ride of rides. one boat came back in this morning after leaving saying it was toooo rough. it was a power boat so hopefully we will not have that problem.

we had quite an adventure the other day going to a real grocery store downtown. we got to see some of the government buildings and more sections of the town. long trip but worth the experience of seeing and interacting with the locals.

grand bahama yacht club, lucaya, grand bahama island

December 3, 11

We were up early again in the dark watching the sun rise. Pretty colors. Water was not as glassy this am as yesterday. Kirk was checking on the oil filters he has on board and discovered that he has 3 that are the wrong ones. One number off. So with that I went to the bath house and did some internet stuff. When I got back on the boat things were under control.

We went to the market place that is at lucayan marina (sister marina to this one) was a bunch of tourist shops. Did see a really pretty aqua dress that I might go back and see if the lady will sell for 35.00 first she told me 45. Then 40. So we will see how 35.00 sounds to her. So we really went in search of the sim card for the phone. When we finally found the shop, there was a sign in the window that said be back at 11. It was now about 12:30 so we got something to eat. Went back to store. No change. Walked down a hotel strip and took a peak at the ocean. It was all white caps and blowing pretty hard.

Now comes the good part. There is a casino here. Too bad it stunk like smoke but it was fun. I donated about $10.00 to the local economy by playing the slot machines not really understanding what the buttons did but laughed all the same. Won some and spent it all back. Didn’t win much…. Anyway was a diversion from the regular day which what we did when we got back. Back to the sim card store and still no change. Again welcome to the island mon

I also looked into getting my hair braided. Would cost $50.00. I don’t know if it is worth it. Was hysterical cause this woman whom I talked with kept seeing me and saying “I could have had your hair finished, you still here, come let me braid it now.” Thing was she had her hair all wrapped up in a turban so that made me a little leary. The little birdies were flying out of my pocket saying cheap cheap cheap and so I passed. I am not sure I want those beads in my hair I just wonder how they get them on there and if they hurt.

Regular Day - oh but they are cruising, vacationing. It is scary and hard sailing where you have never been. There are so so many shoals and rocks. It is exciting at the same time when you think you have some back up plans. Thanks God Kirk is mr. prepared. We have different chart books, charts, description books I can remember when he would say I need to order such and such and it costs a lot of money. I would say do we need it and he’d say yes and boy am I glad we have all the resources we do. We worked for hours planning our next course, bail out cays if we had to stop, and now kirk is reading about the fuel filter for the genset. I think tomorrow is work on the genset day and laundry day

I was standing on the sea wall today checking out the little fish and thought about a big fish and low and behold here comes one. I do not know what kind, was about 5 feet long under the pier. It swam right on by about 20 feet away. it definitely was the biggest fish I have seen since I left home.

We plan on having pork chops for dinner so I had better get going. Up to the bath house to post this and check on email

December 2, 11

Lucaya – grand bahama marina

Well this is our new home till Monday night or earlier Tuesday morning weather permitting. The winds are supposed to be 30 knots with 10 ft seas till then so here we are. Yesterday I waitied on the boat for a engine mechanic to show up. Kirk had business still to tend to so he was where he could get wifi and phone reception. He finally called the guy around 2 who said he had been on an emergency call and had just got back could he come on Monday. Welcome to the islands mon. all in all it was a great day. In case you did not notice, I finally was able to figure out how to get photos on a blog. This has been quite a learning experience. First a new computer (mac) and then doing a blog. Is like learning all over again. I was going to go swimming but with the winds the water is a little chilly. Most likely will stay that way till we leave. Bummer

Kirk discovered a slight coolant leak in the port engine when we were getting ready for the mechanic, you know the one who did not show, so now we are gonna deal with that. Our next big adventure will be to the marine store on Monday. Another cruiser here wants to go so maybe I will not be on that trip.

So I went to the little store/gas station down the road (the one with bars on the windows and doors) with a cruiser here to get some milk and bought kirk some m & m’s as a prize and 2 cokes. Later on I saw that he had eaten a pack of the m & m’s. he said beware they had little white things all over them and he did not notice till he had eaten the whole pack. So I opened the other pack and sure enough little white things. Uh oh so I dumped them out on the cutting board to see if they moved. They did not!!! Yeah. So I did a little more investigating and decided that it was old and I mean old chocolate from broken ones in the pack. Was a little hairy there for a minute. I ate the other ones so if there was something bad at least we would both have it. True love.

We went to the Friday night fish fry at the marina. However it is not with fish, nor do they call it a bbq they call it a grill out. Food was good. And no longer shall we have a cookout. It is a GRILL OUT!

west end to lucaya

November 28^th to December 1, 11

We finally got out of west end on the 29^th.  We did not leave until noon as we waited for the seas to calm down.  We walked out to the point and looked at them around 10 – 11 and you could see breakers just where we were headed in the ocean and said nah, we already played that game and it was not fun.  About an hour or so later the winds had calmed and we could stand at the helm of the boat and it looked a lot better.   I think the deciding factor was we were going to have to move the boat off the seawall into another slip as the marina had some 150 ft boat reservations.  So we decided that since we were moving anyway, we might as well give it a try.  Earlier that morning I was sitting at the table and heard a bunch of commotion and looked up to see a boat sideways in the channel being blown towards us.  Not good.  I went out on the dock and the guy had crossed the gulf stream the night before and the pitch from the waves was 40 degrees and his fuel must of got churned up and he called it “brown slurry” was clogging his engines.  He was being towed in.  (I could not see the tow boat cause of the boats behind us from where I was sitting)  I went out to see if I could help.  It was a mess.  I did help pull a line and fend off so his anchor did not plow into the dock but was glad when kirk showed up as then I could step back.  I really need to get the “quick get the line around the pole secure “  down and I do not.  I was helping the guy on the boat (who was an old salt, with an old steel boat with a sticker that said dive rescue boat) anyway I was helping fend off the dock and we both said sh*t at the same time.   Thought that was kinda funny.  Enough of that story.

Kirk saw a huge turtle in west end.  I missed it as I was in the shower.  Durn

Just a note on the lizards here.  At west end they had curly tails.  Went up around in a circle.  I had never seen ones with curly tails.  Even out in the desert in California they did not have curly tails nor ones in bvi’s so I thought oh the bahama lizards have curly tails.  On our first night in lucaya  which is a port on the same island as west end and of course in the bath house on the wall beside me is a lizard about 6 inches and NO CURLY TAIL.  So go figure.  The ones at west end were much more colorful.   Maybe today if I can ever get the pictures loaded into the blog I will search the internet and check it out.

Our ride over here was good.  Saw the silly flying fish.  They are a riot.  They kinda crash land back in the water.  Sometimes they fly a long distance.  These looked like little blue ones. The color could have been the reflection of the water and the sun.  they probably were the white ones we saw before.  The water was that indescribable blue color .  I think it is just clean water and so deep that makes it that color.  We were in over 1000 feet of water.  We even got to put up the genoa and were sailing along and then the wind died. 

At our new dock, you can see the fish just swimming around.  The little yellow and black striped ones.  Also some little ones all colors by the pilings.  I will try to get a picture of them. 

I was so excited when we made it to lucaya.  It was our first ocean trip by ourselves.  I hope the first of many.  Kirk was not nearly as happy as me.  Maybe no big deal for him, but I felt like we had finally really started on this adventure.  Must have been just silly girl stuff. 

We are here for a while due to business and weather.  Kirk is constantly fixing stuff on the boat and I am constantly desalting and polishing.  We have had a time with our water and are still working on getting it regulated.  The filter that kirk installed at the kitchen sink is working like a charm and that water is good. 

Yesterday we walked out of the marina complex and down the street a bit to a gas station with a little shop.  The bars on the windows and doors did not give a warm and fuzzy feeling.  Also the guy outside was the first person we have run into that was not pleasant.   The marina got busy yesterday with boats coming in.  I guess 3 sail boats came in.  they all seemed to know one another.  Some have been cruising for 20years or should I say wintering down here for years.  The guy who came in last night and is next to us is from north east, Maryland. 

We made the trip to the grocery store via the public bus here.  That was uneventful yet we learned a lot of the “lay of the land” and how to get around.  Now get this.  The public bus driver gave us his card to call him and he would take us wherever we wanted to go.  He said the taxi cost way to much money.  That was a crack up.  We did get some stuff at the store so we are set for a while.  Most likely make a run before we leave but all set for now.

Our next adventure is to the marina and hardware stores that are down town.  Now that will be a bus ride.

Back to working on the pictures to see if I can get them posted on the blog