Chapter 14, (We did it! We came full circle!)

On April 29th, once we were clear of customs, we headed up the ICW once again for Fort Pierce. Once again, the wind and weather had made it impossible to sail out in the open waters and we needed to proceed to get the boat back to home port and prepared for Hurricane season. The trip up the ICW was actually enjoyable. We had to motor the entire time because of the narrow channel but we had a lot of down time to talk about the adventure and all of the things we could do differently or better. As you can imagine, after spending nearly 3 months in our floating home, there are things we would like to modify. We took 2 separate days to travel up the ICW. We spent the night in Hobe Sound again for our last night on anchor. It was very bitter sweet. We had gotten so good at anchoring. We have our system down. The first couple of times were scary but not any more. Steve always is at the helm, watching the depth and picking the spot based on depth and whether or not there is sand, grass or coral reef. Sand is the ideal surface for good holding. I always stand on the bow and watch for obvious obstacles or problems, count the markers on the chain, (a mark every 25 feet) and act as a hood ornament? He has the ability to launch the anchor from the cockpit or from the bow. Once the anchor is set, he backs up and makes sure the anchor grabs hold. He has a watchman system in the cockpit that has an anchor drag alarm. He can set it so that if the wind changes during the night and the boat moves more than what is safe, an alarm will go off and wake us up. The watchmate also helps with pulling up the anchor because it remembers where the anchor is even if we have moved. It allows Steve to know which direction to move. I stand on the bow and point to where the chain is going and bring the anchor up with the controls on the bow. When we motored into Harbortown marina, it was such a happy, overwhelming, emotional feeling for both of us. We had help from the dock staff to get tied up. We were welcomed back by many of the friends we have met on dock. We couldn’t believe it that we, two kids from Colorado, came to Florida, bought a boat, took it over 2000 miles to the Bahamas and best of all were able to get back home safely. We both feel so blessed to have been able to accomplish this together. We will add some of our thoughts to this. The top 10 things we learned about cruising and ourselves! Fresh Water- Fresh Water while on a boat for extended periods is like Gold! You DO NOT want to run out. You don’t want to waste even a single drop. We are set up with the ability to pump in sea water for all the first washings of dishes, then we can use a much smaller amount of water for the final washing. We did dishes once a day and were able to use as little as 11/2 to 2 gallons per washing. When we did shower in the boat you learn to get wet quickly, shut off the water, lather up and then rinse off quickly. Weather- Every day we were constantly looking at the weather forecasts. Even if we were not going to sail that day, we still had to make sure that the direction and speed of the wind was not going to mandate that we needed to move or move the anchor. Even though the weather was warm, the wind direction can make life on the boat wonderful or terrifying. Communication- We learned to communicate even better than before. Steve taught me everything I needed to know to safely help him with the chores and sailing the boat. Many things really take both of us to make the work safer and easier. Two people living in close quarters for extended periods could have problems but fortunately we did very well. We became so much closer than we have ever been. Provisioning- Provisioning is so important. We were pleasantly surprised at the availability of different items throughout the Bahamas. Overall the items really weren't any more expensive than we expected. Even though things are available, stores are many miles apart and planning is important. Living in the mountains prepared us for this. Our initial provisioning was great, we will keep our lists and use them again. Patience- Patience has not always been my strong suit. When I plan to do something, I want to get it done! When we first got to Florida, I was ready to GO! Get this show on the road! However, with an endeavor that takes so much planning, I had to learn real patience. Again, everything has to be perfect, weather, Wind, Tides? God/ Mother Nature- We both had several moments of prayer. Both at Blissful times as well as times of Terror. Certainly both God and Mother Nature (Depending on your be!liefs) Play a big role in allowing us to accomplish our dreams. Hard Work Pays off- We, Steve primarily has been working and planning on this adventure for more than 20 years. Everything we have done in the last several years has been a move towards making this happen. He has worked hard to provide a boat that is safe and sound and he has worked hard to learn everything he needed to learn to make this happen. If I haven't mentioned this before, I Love my Captain! Modern Technology- Steve has upgraded our boat with so much Technology! From the Chart Plotter with moving maps and the Radio systems to the Phones and communication radios and other devices! I was amazed to learn how much there is to make safe passages! Bliss and Beautiful Surroundings- We were so fortunate to see some incredibly beautiful places. I know there are many more incredibly beautiful places that we want to see. One day we will hopefully make it down the Caribbean Chain and onward! Friends and Family- We have been so fortunate to make so many friends over the years. To have support from our friends and family has helped to make this dream a reality! We are so blessed! The 5 scariest things that happened Probably the scariest thing that happened, was during our sail from Governor's Harbor on Eleuthera to Cape of Eleuthera. We had 30 + knots of wind as mentioned previously. Going through the Davis Channel with Coral land mines all around and the 15 foot seas made it very scary. However, we made it! The crossing from the Abacos to Eleuthera was a crossing that had weather we experienced was not expected but again, We did it! The Current cut on Eleuthera was scary because of all of the hype that led up to going through it. Steve worked hard to find exactly what time we should go through based on wind and tide. We must have done it all right because it went very well and had no issues. Crossing the bank after the cut was again scary but no problems. Crossing the Yellow Bank between Highbourne Cay and Nassau. With high seas, strong wind and scattered coral heads to dodge, this was scary but again we did it! So, we omitted this one earlier because we were a bit shook up. Earlier in the Abacos, just prior to entering the Whale cut, we Ran a ground. We left No Name Cay and headed south across an area that indicated on the charts and chart plotter that there was 15-20 foot of depth. Just as we were almost to the main channel, we ran aground hard. We had winds that were pushing us up on the hard area. We called on the radio for help and no one offered assistance. The winds were pushing us further on to the high area. Steve ended up launching the Dinghy. We dropped the anchor into his lap in the dinghy and he took the Anchor out 50 feet and then came back on the boat and worked to pull us off the reef. It took 45-60 minutes and lots of muscle. At first opportunity, he dove on the keel and everything was just fine. We wrote on our chart and marked this for future trips. So no harm came to us and this never happened again so all is good! We definitely had a plan if we encountered this again! So, we have made lots of notes and we have thought about what we will do different next year. We would like to spend more time in the Exumas and make it further South. It was just so cool that we made it full circle back to our starting point. On May 11, 2017 we took Sol Mates out of the water. We left her at Riverside Marina. This is not an easy endeavor. So much goes into preparing for potential hurricane season. It took us the batter part of a week to get things done. We have found that the harder you work on fixing things and preparing for next year, the better prepared you are. This is the first time I have helped steve with this because of work. We hope that you have enjoyed our Blog! We have enjoyed sharing our journey with you all and will continue to update pictures and maps. BE BOLD, FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS!

Chapter 13 (New Providence and beyond)

Chapter 13 New Providence and beyond On Monday, April 24th we left New Providence at sunrise. We had an 8 hour sail to the Berry Islands. We were pleasantly surprised at how much we liked Nassau Harbor Marina. It was older and not fancy by any means but extremely secure. We had heard so many bad stories and very few good ones, about Nassau Marina’s. Many Sailors reported getting robbed and even attacked in the Marina’s. It is a large City, and where the Marina’s are it is a little bit more commercial and dirty. Peter the Dock Master told us that a couple of years ago things were bad but now ”just treat your boat like you do your home, if you lock your home then lock your boat”. We had no issues. On our way through the 8+ mile Harbor, which was another new and scary endeavor for us, with large Barges , Ships, Tankers and traffic coming and going, everything went well. We also saw two Royal Caribbean cruise line ships. These ships were incredibly large to pass by! On the “Allure of the Sea” Vessel a family on one of the upper decks noticed our flags and hollered out fondly “COLORADO”!! We hooped and hollered a little and moved on. It was fun to see the beautiful Atlantis Resort and many other beautiful homes and resorts on paradise Island and further West on Nassau. Our sail to the Berry’s was interesting. We had to sail along a bank between what is known as “The Yellow Bank” and “The White Bank” . We saw areas that were somewhere between 7 and 15 feet deep out in the middle of nowhere. They never recommend this voyage at night for this reason. About 10 miles into the trip, we realized that we had a stow away. We had a tiny finch like bird that stayed on our boat until we got to the berry’s. I guess we helped him migrate to a new Island. We named him “Tweety”? Initially we had good winds out of the Southeast that moved us along. Once we turned to go through the banks, the winds were straight out of the north and very strong. "This made for a somewhat uncomfortable sail with all of the Spring Breakers at it again. However we have gotten much better at preparing for them! We knew that based on our initial trials with weather and trying to get out of Florida, that we needed to work hard on the best window to return to Florida even if it means getting back earlier than expected. Steve was looking at the forecast and based on it, the best day to get from Grand Bahama to Florida was on Friday. After that time we may have to wait an additional week? As much as we were loving being in the Bahamas we felt this was the right thing to do!. Responsibilities at home! We saw just enough of the Berry’s to know that we really want to go back there next year. This Island was one of them that got hit very hard by Hurricane Matthew last year and still has not recovered. The Marina’s are not yet open for service. On the North end of the Islands is a Cay called little Stirrup Cay. We anchored on the back side of this Island our last night on the Berry’s. This is where several cruise lines take their passengers to CoCo Bay for a day of Beach time and souvenir shopping. This is private and was very busy while we were alone on the other side of the Cay. On Wednesday the 26th we set sail for the Grand Bahamas. This was our longest sail so far. We sailed for 10 hours straight. We couldn’t fish along this stretch because we needed every minute to get us to the inlet before dark. We are not yet ready for a night crossing! We sailed into Lacaya Harbor, through the Bell Channel. On this side of the Island there are no places to anchor. The Atlantic ocean with lots of reefs is what you enter from. We reserved a slip in the Grand Bahama Resort Marina. This is another Marina hit hard by the hurricane but they have really been working on things and have a beautiful Marina. Again we were amazed at how friendly and helpful the Dock staff are. Everyone is happy and so willing to help in any way possible. We stayed one night with the plans of heading for West End in the morning. Again at this point the winds looked very favorable for us for the next 48 hours, after that it is anyone’s guess. We had a nice dinner of Mahi-Mahi again and got the boat in ship shape for tomorrow. We left the Marina for West end by 9AM. This was a great sail with favorable winds. We had plenty of time so we put out the line on our way. Low and behold we caught more Mahi-Mahi. It is definitely the season for Dolphin! What a beautiful fish! We arrived at West End by 4 PM. We had been hearing of a fish tournament that was going on at the West End Marina and that all slips were full. There is an anchorage on the outside of the Marina. This is what Steve had planned on so we would be able to leave at sun up. However there were boats in the anchorage when we arrived and the area that we tried to anchor up in, had was terrible surge with the tide changes. We thought this would be awful for our last night in the Bahamas if we had a disaster. Steve called the Dock Master at the Marina and he so nicely made room for us. Again West End has not fully recovered from the Hurricane. They still did not have power or other amenities but their staff and slips made for a very comfortable stay. We can easily survive without all of the amenities. The fishing tournament that was going on had fishing boats and yachts of all sizes coming in, into the evening. The was a Tuna caught that weighed 126 pounds. We saw many Dolphin. We were lucky enough to see a Manatee. As much as we wanted to “Turn around and Run”, when the sun came up we knew this was our best opportunity for a great crossing to Florida. We were looking forward to” Bliss” rather than “Terror”. We left at 630 AM as soon as several boats had cleared out of the Marina. It was the calmest departure yet. We handled the lines and the push off independently. We headed out to the open seas and had a wonderful tail wind and anywhere between 8 and 15 knots. We were able to sail at between 6 and 7 knots. On this crossing we had to cross the Gulf Stream. The Gulf stream is like a 46 mile wide river, running from the south around Florida out of the Gulf of Mexico. It always runs South to North. If there is ever winds coming out of the North, you don’t want to cross the Gulf Stream. This makes for extremely violent rough seas because the wind clashes with the ever constant Gulf Stream. Once you are in the Gulf Stream you have to use a Calculation to determine how fast you are traveling. If you are not conscious of things the Gulf Stream can take you way off your course. We decided to fish along the way. We ended up hooking 3 separate Dolphin. Of these 3, 2 of them proved to be too big to land on the boat. We did land one beautiful fish. It definitely takes both of us. While I am managing the Rod and trying to keep the fish on, Steve is managing the sails and slowing down the boat. These fish take so long to tire that you have to keep turning the boat and chase them until they tire. Meanwhile every time we catch a fish the Gulf Stream is taking us further North. We finally had to quit Fishing and concentrate on getting into the Inlet safely. When you enter any inlet you have to look for channel markers. You want to make sure the Red one is on your right when you are returning to assure you are in the deepest part of the channel. You keep the green marker on your left and both are opposite if you are leaving the channel. We made it to our anchorage just at Sunset. We got anchored safely for the night. This is where it gets interesting! We came in with our Quarantine flag on the Starboard Halyard. Steve made the call to Customs. There were at least 5 boats coming in the inlet at about the same time as us. Weather was good and several made the crossing. When we first landed in the Bahamas, their Customs is pretty simple. They have an agent at the Marina that fills out all of the paperwork and takes your money. We always felt safe and secure. Steve did his research and found that if we purchased a Customs sticker and paid money it would simplify the procedure? We were to call this 1-800 number and that was supposedly all there was to it? The person he spoke with, indicated he was actually in Miami. The office that is in West Palm Beach, where we were was currently closed (As of 5 PM) so this guy over the phone, was able to clear our boat and gave us permission to take down our Quarantine flag. However, this agent indicated that within 24 hours we would have to go into the West Palm Beach customs office (which he said would open at 8 AM) to have our Passport stamped and cleared or to the Palm Beach airport? We decided to stay on anchor through the night and go to the Customs office in the morning at 8 AM. We launched the dinghy first thing in the morning. We had our coffee and headed to the customs office. As it turned out there is no public dinghy dock near by. We had to pay $16 to tie up our dinghy at the dock at Riviera Marina. There were no Public Dinghy docks here. Anything to make a buck? We then walked to Customs. There was a Cruise ship loading up and thousands of people milling around trying to get boarded. We were then told by an official that Customs would not be open until 1PM and we would need to wait or go to the airport? We would go to the Airport but this would probably be a $50 cab ride, so we wait. While we were off the boat we decided to find a liquor store for beer. We only had a couple left and it is in the 90’s today! The closest liquor store was in a pretty rough area. We kept walking, over 10,000 steps. We finally found a small grocery//liquor/ gas store (Convenience store). While we were in the store, we heard a ruckus up front. 5 police cruisers showed up with full guns on, the cashier had called them because someone had threatened him with a knife and then ran from the store! We paid for our items as soon as possible and got out of the store quickly. The Police had a guy spread eagle on the ground in handcuffs? It was just a little freaky and we knew “we were not in Kansas anymore, Toto”! We left quickly, so no pictures to insert here! We returned to the dinghy and back to the boat for some breakfast and waiting for Customs to open up! At 12:30 we boarded the Dinghy, we arrived at the custom office at 5 minutes before 1:00. We went to the 3rd floor and an officier that barely spoke english told us their offices were closed on Saturday and Sunday. We told him that his Customs Employees told us to be here at 8 today and then again at 1, he informed us that we should have done more research? After telling him that we had been instructed by other customs officers, he said that we have to go to West Palm Beach airport to check in before the 24 hours was up. So, we hailed a cab to the airport, 25 minutes and $50 later, we were there. He dropped us off at a sign that said US Immigration and Customs. Seems appropriate, but no, the Customs office we needed was about 7-8 miles away, still on Airport property but off site nonetheless. We hailed another Cab. We explained that we needed to go to the Customs office off site but still on Airport property. With the help of the person hailing cabs, he was able to translate to this very nice but illiterate haitian man. He took us to the office and waited for us. We would never get a cab in this area? We walked up to the doors. There was a window with a buzzer and paperwork taped all over the window.. We pushed the button and after about 5 minutes a uniformed man showed up. We told him why we were there. He took all of our paperwork and left us on the porch while he did whatever he needed to do. After about 5 minutes a woman officer appeared with our passports and told her everything was complete. Our Passports did not get stamped, but we left with our nice Cab driver and after another 25 minutes and another $50 we found our Dinghy and proceeded back to our boat. So the Moral to this story is we should not have been so honest. I guess seasoned americans that have done this in the past, just wait until Monday to say they are back even if that is not true? We were concerned that they may stop us in the future when we wanted to travel. We will find out if our documentation and passports are really in order when we fly home in a couple of weeks. So, we are back on the boat, safe and sound. We have a lot of thoughts to include on our next Blog about what we might have done different or better but all in all, it was an amazing trip.

Chapter 12 ( Off to the Exuma's, Fish, Fish and More Fish)

Chapter 12 (Off to the Exuma's, Fish,Fish and More Fish!) We ended up having a fantastic time at Cape Eleuthra after our terrifying start! We met several other boaters both power fishing boaters and sailors. Eleuthra is a very popular place for fishermen. We met so many that had an abundant supply of fish that everyday we were receiving a large bag of fish. We met Tom and Margaret from Stuart Florida. They gave us Wahoo steaks and let us borrow their bikes for a day. We were able to cover a larger area of the Cape of Eleuthra.

We left Cape Eleuthra on April 18th at about 10 AM, and headed South to the Exuma's. It was supposed to be a mild day of wind about 15-20 knots of wind. It started out with winds about 8 knots across Exuma sound in about 4,000 foot of water. We were able to put out our Main and the Genoa for a good sail. Because of the direction we were headed it made for a slightly bumpy, uncomfortable sail but we both got used to it. About half way there the winds picked up to about 20 knots and it got ROUGH, and the College students on Spring break returned. We have a new appreciation for the Gordon Lightfoot lyrics "does anyone know where the love of GOD goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours?" While sailing, we put out 2 fishing rods with Rigged Ballyhoo (Frozen fish about 8 inches in length). When we were approaching Highbourne Cay and the Highbourne cut, there was a shelf of water around 700 foot of water, we tacked and heard the classic "ZZZZZZZZ of the fishing rod" and ended up hooking a fish. Because of the wind and the sails it took several minutes to get control of the boat. Steve had a lot of work to get things under control. Mean while I picked up the fishing rod to try and manage the fish. We had no idea what it was at that point but knew it was very large. Up until now we had mostly caught Barracuda on the deep water trips. Our fishing rods have 20 pound test and Steve has modified them to be deep water rods. Once the boat was as stable as we could imagine, I was exhausted and Steve took over on the Rod. We ended up having to turn the boat and chase the fish several times when he would make another run for it to get line back into the reel. After about 45 minutes to an hour we finally had the fish to a place that we could see it was a large Dolphin,(Mahi-Mahi or Dorado in different areas of the world). We wanted to do everything possible to land this guy but really thought it would be impossible. We really needed a 3rd person at that time to help out. When we got him to the boat, we used our Gaff hook and it took both of us to get him on board. This is the largest Ocean fish we have ever caught. He was easily 35 pounds. The poor guy was exhausted when he was first landed. We knew we could not prepare the fish on board because of the rocking of the boat, not safe with large sharp knives! We decided to tie up the tail and boy were we glad we did. He started flipping and trying his best to escape. We managed to contain him, although I am not sure how and get the boat turned around and enter the Highbourne cut to get to our anchorage.

The Highbourne cut is another one of these tricky cuts that have strong tidal current, wind and wave cautions. We made it through just fine, turned the corner and were very surprised to see the number of boats anchored on the west side of Highbourne Cay. It is one of the few cuts into the Exuma's and is a favorite stopping point for boaters going in any direction between, New Providence, Eleuthra and the Exuma's. So, it took about an hour from the time we entered through the cut and made it to our anchorage. I kept pouring sea water over our "Catch of the day" to keep him wet and try to preserve some of the beautiful color that he had. Once we got the boat anchored, Steve went to work washing off the stern deck. We had blood spattered every where and this big beautiful fish to prepare. Once we had all of our pictures taken, he went to work cutting it up. Just as he was tossing the carcass of the fish overboard, he hit the back of a huge nurse shark with it. We then suddenly realized that we had not one, but 4 huge nurses, about 7 foot and 200 pounds each! The Sharks kept circling our boat and tearing up the carcass. We figure they got a scent of it as we came through the cut and followed us to our anchorage. We ended up staying at this anchorage for 3 nights to wait for the weather to allow us to make our next crossing. We saw several sharks in this bay, and therefore decided not to swim at this anchorage like usual. Amazing how a few sharks change your desire to swim or snorkel? When we started this Blog, I mentioned that I thought we would be eating Fish or lobster at least 5-7 times per week. I had to make some changes back then due to the lack of fish caught. However, since leaving Marsh Harbor, between fish caught and Fish given to us, we are eating fish more than once a day. It has been wonderful. We went ashore to the Highbourne Marina to walk and provision. While there we watched the fishermen cleaning their catch and t one point saw at least 50 of the sharks we had under our boat, both Nurse Sharks, reef sharks and Bull Sharks . Not too far south of us is a Cay called Normans Cay, where they have one of the largest breeding grounds for Hammer head shark! We didn't see any of these though! The next day, April 19th was Lillie's birthday 56th birthday! What a beautiful relaxing place to celebrate a birthday. Again, with the fantastic cell coverage with T Mobile, I received many wonderful wishes from friends and family. We relaxed in the hammocks off of the Stern, walked the beaches, went ashore and achieved a new record in our Smash Ball game of 208 volley's. Life is much simpler on the boat. Steve fixed me an amazing meal with Spaghetti and Mahi-Mahi and cupcakes for desert!

While on the Island we ended up breaking our Smash Ball record 2 more times. We first made it to 228 and then 248! We will be ready for the Smash Ball Olympics! So, Steve has been studying the Wind and Weather each day for several hours. He is trying to coordinate our trip home with the most favorable wind and weather. It really has proven to be quite stressful for him to make all of the right decisions. He listens to Chris Parker each morning (Mon-Sat), on his SSB radio, the marine equivalent of Ham radio. Chris Parker broadcasts out of Florida for his subscribers, trying to navigate on the Ocean (We don't subscribe). He gives thorough weather reports and addresses the concerns of those trying to make crossings. Many times we can listen to the advise that he gives to subscribers going the same direction as us. If we were cruising full-time we might subscribe, we can definitely see it as a benefit! We decided the best way to work our way back is to head North West to New Providence. As we left the Exuma's we had good winds out of the South East. We needed to cross a very shallow area between the "Yellow and the White banks". We ended up seeing depths of 15-20 feet. Though we were not anticipating as rough a ride, we prepared the cabin better against the "Wild Spring Breakers", and it turned out to be rougher than we thought so we were glad we had! The charts mentioned we could see rising coral heads and depths of less than 5 feet, so much better than we were expecting. We had sails up most of the way and really had a great time! New Providence is the Island, home to the Capitol of Nassau. We have heard many (Some good some bad) stories of Cruisers going this route. As you can imagine, it is a big City with Big City problems. We stayed in a slip at Nassau Harbor Marina, to wait out the pending thunderstorms predicted with lightning and rain. We don't want to be out on anchor with our giant Lightning Rod (aluminum mast) in the sky! Nassau Harbor Marina is a moderately priced Marina, Close to good shopping and has good reviews on good security. We will pay $1.75 per foot per night. With Showers, unlimited water and Electricity. Peter, the Dock Master is a very nice guy and made our landing very pleasant. Great communication on the radio and even though winds were pretty strong, all went well. The Atlantis Marina which is beautiful is $6.00 per foot per night and they don't accept boats smaller than 55 feet long. This is not the peaceful, quiet anchorage we have been used to; sirens and emergency vehicles off and on. When we first walked out onto the streets of Nassau, we were shocked to see a big City on an Island. The first thing we saw was a "Starbucks" . We are hoping to post our blog today with good internet and maybe a few pictures! We will hopefully if weather forecasted stays the same, sail out of here in the morning, (On Monday) and head North for the Berry Islands for our next Anchorage as we make our way back to Florida!

Chapter 11 Current Cut and Beyond)

Chapter 11 (Current Cut and Beyond) Happy Easter to all of our friends and family. I am starting at the end with this blog. What I mean is I have been trying to Blog and capture our adventure since going through the Current cut over a week ago. We have not been in a WiFi environment since, until today. We sailed yesterday from Governors Harbor, South to the Cape of Eleuthra. This is the furthest South of civilization on this Island and the locals that do live here want to keep it that way! It was a fantastic sail. It took us the better part of 5 hours to get here. The last 3 hours of the trip was a little bit terrifying, but very beautiful. We had a 30+knot wind out of the southeast with huge seas and swells. We only put up about 1/3 of our Genoa to begin with but then had to reduce that, the closer we got to the Cape. Even still we maintained 6-7 knots with the extreme winds. The last 6 miles we had to motor without sails, to go through the Davis channel and skirt around coral heads. That leg of the trip was like sailing in a very violent washing machine without sails. We were knocked over to our starboard 3 times and twice to our port. In fact the ride was so violent that everything not totally tied down in the cabin was strewn about. It looked like college kids on spring break, gone wild! Nothing was damaged! Again, we are so happy with our chart plotter, It makes us feel much safer. We once heard a seasoned, blue water cruiser say that when you cruise you have 23 hours per day of shear terror followed by 1 hour of pure bliss. It has not been that extreme for us but we have seen both terror as well as bliss. When we came into the harbor yesterday with such extreme winds, we would find out later that the harbor master from this port, was not working? It was obvious! We had called ahead and they were expecting us. We couldn't get the dock crew to respond to us on the radio, as was the normal, in other marinas. We looked up after waiting more than 15 minutes bouncing around in the harbor with the winds. and there was a woman in uniform waving us into a space that was not good for the wind conditions. It was one space between to large power fishing yachts. Imagine their terror as we approached semi-out of control? Having never been here before we tried to do what she asked but had to abort the landing, so to speak because we had no control even with the Bow Thruster. The bow thruster could not compete with the 30+ knots tail wind gusts we were experiencing. That was 30 minutes of terror for sure! We escaped with no major damage to our boat or the marina but our barbeque was ripped off of the rail by a passing pylon.. Poor Steve is always having to fix stuff! (Another experienced cruiser described cruising, as working on your boat in exotic locations!) One of the large dive boats in the harbor with Captain Paul, ended up working like a tug boat to pull us off of the Pylons that were holding us from damaging anything or anyone, as we were unable to move with the dominant cross wind, pinning us down! They really design these marinas well. We ended up motoring to and being placed for the night next to a large concrete "Safety dock", where they typically put the large yachts or small ships. The problem was that the wind was still driving us into the dock. While getting secured to the dock a remaining part to the barbeque that was ripped off, fell into the water. The staff said their diver would retrieve it ASAP. The dock staff were expecting two very large yachts in the morning and needed us to move to another spot in the morning to make room for them. The winds were not expecting to let up and we would have difficulty getting off the dock independently. The bright spot of the night, well there were 3, was that we took an extra long shower in the shower house, got some laundry done and, on the way back to the boat, the crew and guests of a 114 foot luxury liner "Good Times" stopped us and gave us about 10 pounds of fresh Mahi-Mahi that they had caught that day! We graciously took it. No Chicken for us tonight! When we were talking with them about our incident, they graciously offered to help us out in the morning. They had a 20 foot "Dinghy" with 3 250 horsepower outboards on the back. Steve was up all night trying to make sure that our boat was safe and recounting the events from the day. I was restless as it was very noisy and rock and rolly, but nothing really disturbs my sleep, can't help it? He did wake me up one time to help him replace the fenders protecting our boat from the pylons. With the changing tide and the severe blow, our fenders had moved and the boat was hitting the pylons directly.. Early this morning the Harbor master came to our boat to discuss the incident from yesterday. He stated they never should have tried to dock us in the area that they were trying to, because of the forceful winds. They had an incident report filled out, claiming responsibility for any damage, thankfully other than the barbeque there was no real damage. Steve went for a ride with him to try to find a place we could move into that would be more comfortable and safer. As discussed, the captain from the "Good Times" yacht came to our rescue. They pulled our stern off the dock and held us until Steve could get the Bow moved with the thruster and the engine. It was again a very stressful and a little terrifying, due to the extreme winds, but we got moved into a slip that was out of the wind and secured. We tried to pay the people that helped us but they would not accept our offer? Diver Paul did retrieve our barbeque piece and I am certain Steve will have it soon, good as new. So we are relaxing here in this beautiful harbor for Easter. The luxury liner crew, the diver that helped and the fish could only be explained as a pure Easter miracle! We will be here for 2 more nights. Then, the winds are supposed to improve. We will have to begin our return trip to Florida. We don't know yet exactly what our plans are but we will have some soon.

The next segment is what we wrote initially, over the last several days that got us to the Current cut and Beyond! _____________________________________________________________________ After 2 nights in the Marina at Spanish Wells, hiding from the 30 knots of wind, we left for the Current cut. The weather was beautiful on 4-8-17. We were able to sail some but mostly we was thankful for our Garmin Chart Plotter to guide us out of the shallow harbor on the same scary trail we entered and out to the banks that led us into deeper water, 20-30 foot. We were often in 7-8 foot of water! We approached the Current Cut at approximately 1:48. Steve had talked with many people and did a lot of research to pick the best time. The Current cut as I mentioned is considered the Panama Canal of the Bahamas'. As with every other crossing we had to look at the wind speed, direction, and the tide. At 1:45 Steve determined the tide would be 11/2 hours before estimated low tide at Eleuthera . When we went through the Cut, it went very smooth. The Channel is very deep. This channel is where a lot of the drift divers will shoot through at up to 10 knots. We were going against a current of about 3 knots, Steve felt like he had the most control that way. Another first was accomplished! The next step was about 2-3 miles of very shallow bank to cross before getting into the deeper water. Again the water color was amazing, shades of blue that I never could of imagined. We sailed to Hall's Bight. The remaining 30-40 miles of Eleuthra is one long skinny Island. The next 10 day forecast has very high winds (up to 30 +knots) but out of the east so we will be protected. Our first night at Hall's Bight was around the corner (a dinghy ride away) from the Glass window. This is a very skinny place on Eleuthra where there is only the Queens highway connecting the south and north ends of the Island. The Atlantic with its rolling waves is splashing in from the East and the banks of Eleuthra is on the West side. We had a beautiful night on anchor, the only boat in the harbor. The next day we set sail South. We anchored in a bay on the north side of Rainbow Cay. We went ashore for some beach time and a walk through the little settlement there. There were no businesses. We were met on shore the first time by a local man. He handed us his car keys. He said" There are no stores or restaurants here, but you can take my car to the next town to get what you need"? We didn't need anything but told him how gracious we were for his offer. On our walk we were stopped 3 times asking us if we needed a ride?

Because of wind again, the boat was really rocking when we woke in the morning. Once we secured everything we left the harbor for a new harbor further South that we thought would have better protection from the 30+ knots winds. We motored to the next spot because of the high winds. We entered Alabaster Bay where the wind was still blowing but we were able to be on Anchor with out much rocking. This was a beautiful bay with White sand on the shores. Going ashore we watched others picking up Sand dollars. We were soon out snorkeling in the bay picking up sand dollars of our own! After about 45 minutes of hunting we had 34 sand dollars!

The next morning we decided to go ashore and see the land. We combed the beach more to look for shells. We found the abandoned US Navy base that was built in the 1950's, during the cold war and only open a short time. It was built to have a close access and monitoring of the Cuban missiles. We were able to walk through the entire base. There were still many buildings. Lots of over growth from the jungle. We will post pictures ASAP.

Eleuthra has Pink sandy beaches on most of its Atlantic shores. We have read several reasons why but we are not sure. They do have a pink hue? Very beautiful. When we returned to Sol Mates, we snorkeled the bay and walked the beaches more. We saw several stingrays and an eagle Ray. We then sailed South to Governors' Harbor. We found an excellent anchorage just north of the harbor on "Tom's Rocks". This was a very private anchorage. We were there two nights and never saw another boat. We continue to see the most beautiful sunsets. I am assuming the sunrises are still as beautiful but I have been sleeping in and honestly have not seen many of those! The shoreline had a beautiful beach. We were able to walk the beach and play our smash ball game again. We achieved a record of 176 continuous hits on this beach! It is impossible to take a picture of this game because we both have to be playing, maybe another time? We did take a short dinghy ride to Governors harbor for more provisioning and a stroll through the settlement. Governors Harbor was the first capitol of the Bahamas. Eleuthra was the first established Island in the Bahamas and now it is clearly the least inhabited of the larger Islands that we have seen., and not near as many cruisers here either. Looking forward to better winds and sea conditions. When we know which way the wind will blow us we will let you know!

Chapter 10 (The Journey continues)

Chapter 10 Eleuthra April 2, 2017 we worked to get the boat in ship shape well into the evening for a long crossing. Steve studied all of the charts to prepare for our departure. We were up at 6 AM and departed at 6:30 AM as the sun was coming up. There was not enough light to really see detail but over the previous 2 days we studied this departure well to make sure it was safe. The winds were forecasted to blow out of the Southeast at 14-17 knots per hour. As it turned out the wind was out of the south-southeast. It was blowing (17-20 knots per hour) about 30 degrees off of our port bow which made for a little bit of a rough ride, for the first 3/4 of the trip. The trip took us approximately 11 hours to sail 60+ miles to Eleuthra. We sailed across the Atlantic and the NorthEast Providence Channel. We saw a few large barges and a few other sailboats going the opposite direction. We saw a very large pod of Dolphin! I finally got a pretty good picture that I will post when I have access. Our last post was a very difficult one to do? Internet access is almost non-existent here? We are very thankful for our phones? We landed in Eleuthra at the Egg Island waypoint. We sailed to the Current Rock Settlement. Once we got into the Northern Eleuthra banks the water colors were amazing! The most beautiful turquoise blue water we have ever seen. It appears to be very shallow but we had 15-20 foot of water over the entire sail on the bank. The temperatures are finally warming up as well. Once we were on anchor, we were concerned about our refrigerator. It was beginning to warm up. Both the fridge and freezer had been working flawlessly since we had them worked on about a year ago. Steve did all of the trouble shooting he could. He was concerned that the refrigerant either had leaked out or had impurities that blocked a line (during our rough crossing) and stopped working. We started making calls to see if we could get a repairman from one of the larger marinas close by but no one was available for at least a week (This is the Island time we are used too). Fortunately our freezers was still working great. Of course our fear was that the food we had ion board might spoil without the refrigerator. Steve continued to work on it. On Wednesday we took our dinghy to the Bluff settlement which was a 7 mile ride. We thought maybe we could buy some ice and at least get through our trip with the ice box. That was a long ride in a dinghy! We made it to this settlement which was also very depressed. They had 2 stores but no one had ice. One store had old butter tubs filled with water, frozen in the freezers. We met a local gentleman that was very friendly, his name was George. He took us to a neighboring settlement. We bought 2 #20 pound bags of ice for $17 dollars. He then took us back to our dinghy to begin the trip back to our boat. George didn't want to take any money for his time but we insisted. In the end we spent $30 for 2 bags of ice! For some reason when we got back to the boat after a 45 minute dinghy ride with only half of our ice left (due to extreme temperatures), our refrigerator began to work again? The wind was coming up again to some 30 knot winds and there was no protection where we were. We were not ready yet to take on the "Current Cut" It is an area that is referred to as the "Panama Canal of the Bahamas". It is another tricky area to move further south down Eleuthra. The current Cut is a narrow rocky lined passage with extreme currents up to 10 knots. If you time it wrong you may be sling-shoted out of the other side out of control or have a head current stronger than you have power to counter and be pushed to the rocks. Much tidal calculation is required to find the right time to cross. We currently are trying to calculate a time to provide a 3 knot push through the cut. The current continues for 1 mile beyond the cut with shallow coral and shoals to avoid. We decided to return north to Spanish Wells to get some shelter and review all of our options. We spent 2 days in Spanish Wells at the Yacht haven resort. It was a great base. Spanish Wells is a very cute settlement with many people living here and very kind people. When we were out walking we kept getting stopped and asked if they could take us somewhere. No one seemed to understand that we just wanted to walk? The temperatures were much warmer so we had some pool time. We again met many new people both Sailors and power boaters. We did a lot of walking, beach combing and relaxing. We had to do some clean up and work on the boat to get her ready for our journey south. Fun people, we met George a Bahamian that is a very active Trump supporter and rode a golf cart around with a Trump banner. There is an election about to happen in the Bahamas so lots of political banners all around. Until the next Post!

Chapter 9 (persistence pays off!)

Chapter 9
Well, blogging has become more difficult due to the internet access the further south we travel. It is nearly impossible to embed photos or Maps. I will have to
Edit and add these to our blog later. I must put a plug in for T-Mobile. When we first arrived at West End, we received a text from T-Mobile, indicating they knew we were in the Bahamas and alerting us that we had free unlimited texting, unlimited data at a slower speed and $0.20 per minute for calls we make. This was a blessing because the Bahamas phone we purchased cost $30 to cents per minute, you must fill up the funds when it is low and no free text or data! The Bahamas phone works great for local calls for dealing with local calls here but not for others. The (Bahamas Telephone Company) BTC has Towers placed strategically throughout the islands that keep you covered fairly well, at least where we have traveled so far. We do have a satellite phone in case of emergencies if all else fails. In fact this chapter is being posted via T-Mobile through BTC!

Culinary cuisine

We have finally started catching fish! Pictures to be posted as soon as possible. We have always been reluctant to catch any fish living on a reef due to the ciguatera fish poisoning found in among other species, Barracuda and large reef fish. We have been told that the smaller reef fish here have been found to be safe. Therefore we have thrown all of the BIG fish back!  That's  our story and we're sticking to it! We caught yellowtail Snapper,  bar Jack, grouper and grunt. I know the grunt does not sound very appetizing but they were all very good! Steve is preparing them for filleted, either  on the grill, skin side down or sauteed in a Buttery sauce. The yellow tail snapper taste sweet like a lobster.  I have loved cooking on a gas stove raather than electric.  For tbose of you that know me I have never been much of a cook but that is because I don't  have the time.   I have enjoyed all of the cooking I have done!  We are still looking for that perfect bone fishing spot and more dolphin to take pictures of!

Our last blog took us to the five days in Marsh Harbour. When we left, Marsh Harbor we continued South down the abacos. We anchored off Tilloo Cay. While we were there Steve notice that the tachometer on the alternator head quit working. Before leaving Florida, we had tried to purchase a spare alternator however, it would have been a special order and they could not get it in stock for several weeks. They tested are alternator at a shop and told us it was great so we left without a spare. We decided to check out our options at Marsh Harbour before continuing. Steve called the boat yard in Marsh Harbour which was on the side of the island closest to us now. They put us in contact with basil Wilmore. He is a nice local fellow and has a business on the island and agreed to look at our alternator. We return to Marsh Harbour outside of the Boatyard. They had no room for us in the Boatyard. We needed to remove the alternator with the understanding that we would not be able to start the engine if there were weather issues, while on anchor outside the harbor. At this time winds were calm. We had to launch the dinghy and take the alternator to shore after we contacted basil to meet us. He met us that evening and had it fixed and returned to us within two hours of receiving it! He charged us $120  for his services (twice what he  initially quoted) but it it was well worth it. This is not the typical Island Experience we have had in the past! Generally it told two hours, it turns into two days and two days into a week. Steve replaced the alternator and we left the next morning for more Adventures.

We continued South to Buckaroon Bay off of great Abaco Island. This was the only time we have anchored in a bay with several other boats. However due to the wind direction it was the only bay in this area with good protection. There were 12 other boats there. However it was a very large Bay. There was a large charter boat that had several women on board from Colorado, (Boulder andAspen), we enjoyed meeting them. They were on a very large, fully crewed,gh charter boat. They gave us a tour of their boat it was beautiful. Pictures to follow. Here in this bay as with others we have found beautiful amazing beaches to play Smash ball on and to beachcomb we have found several beautiful shells (Ed)!

Tonight we are in the most southern area of the abacos. Lynyrd Cay, just next to Little Harbor. Tomorrow we prepare Sol Mates for a 60-mile sail South on Monday in the open Atlantic for Eleuthera, the next Island in the chain. Tonight we met a couple on the beach from Longmont, Colorado.  He was wearing a Carter Lake sailing club t-shirt! I think we will meet up with them again. They had a boat on Carter Lake outside of Loveland during the same time we did!   We are continually finding out what a very small world we live in!
Thank you Stella, for your IT assistance!

Chapter 8, "As the Blog Thickens"!

We spent 5 days in Marsh Harbor while we waited for the weather to improve.  It was still pretty warm every day but beginning on Thursday the wind howled.  The wind blew at 30+knots and the seas were up at about 16+feet.  We rocked in the slip but we were safe and sound.  We found a slip at Mangoes Resort.   Ray the Dock Master worked to help get us tied up.  The dock was full of others that were waiting out the weather like us. 

Captains notes:

So, the cold front that passed and pinned us down in Marsh Harbor the last five days with 30 Knot plus winds has gone down north of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico and is trying to organize into a tropical storm and potentially develop into a Hurricane.  This has only happened once in the month of March since record keeping began in 1851 and that case was in 1908. We are still over two months from the start of hurricane season!!! If it truly develops, it will be the first named storm of 2017 and the name will be Arlene. This will happen as soon as the wind reaches a sustained speed of 39 MPH. It is already causing 15 foot seas and flash flooding in the mountainous island nations. We should know in the next 48 hours what is happening and how it will affect us. It is doubtful that we will be affected at all but certainly something to keep our eyes on. Our local forecast as of right now is the best 10 day forecast we have seen since the trip began. We still plan on leaving Marsh Harbor tomorrow and continue south. The forecast a week or so from today looks promising to pop out into the Atlantic and make the run down to Eleuthera Barring any problems with Arlene.

We decided to make the most of it and get provisioning done.  We were pleasantly surprised at how readily available in Marsh Harbor, everything was.  Things were not that terribly expensive either.  We found a fresh seafood store right in the harbor called Skaggs distributors.  The locals call it “The Fish House”.  We bought Lobster tails, Stone Crab claws, Mahi-Mahi and Grouper.  Everything was very reasonable.  Maybe we can increase our fish intake one way or another?

We found beer at $41.00 per case?  We bought Kalik, and High Rocks, both Bahamian brews.  Rum is still incredibly cheap.  We paid $8 a bottle for some pretty good stuff.

We took care of all of our work while in the slip.  We re-fueled, filled our water tanks, got rid of our garbage and did some laundry.  Steve did all of his Captain work to check the Engine, fluids, rigging etc.

We met some of the others on the dock.  There was a Pot Luck scheduled on Friday night that we attended.  We met people from all over the world here with different stories and adventures.

Hope Town on Elbow Cay is a place we wanted to visit, however the depths on the chart show us that it is much too shallow there for our boat.  We would have to anchor way out of the Harbor and the Seas are not good for that. 

   There is a Ferry system that the locals use as well as visitors to get around to other Islands called Albury Ferries.  We took a Ferry and went to Hopetown.  It was a very beautiful little settlement.  They have the last functioning Kerosene Lighthouse in the world.  It was built in 1864 by the Chance Brothers of Birmingham, England.  The Brick tower is 89 feet high.  We climbed the stairs to the top and what a view. 

We walked to the Atlantic side of Elbow Cay and the Dunes to see the ocean.  Today the Ocean is still quite angry with seas about 15 foot high!  We also saw the memorial for those that died due to Cholera many years ago, perhaps from not enough Rum or something?

As Captain Steve mentioned, we will leave here in the morning.  We have pretty good internet so I am blogging and posting as many pictures and maps as I can.  I don’t know how good the service will be as we move further South.