Hopetown Harbour

Navigating here is so different from in New England. The channels into harbors (or harbours as reflects the islands' British past )are barely marked. In Hopetown there are small green and red markers that look like mooring balls. the channel has 5 feet of water at low tide Once in the harbor depths are about 14 feet or so. You should see the size of the boats in the harbor! The dock master told us that he could " almost always find a spot for a little boat like yours!" I really wondered how some of those 50 or 70 ft boats got in. Today we entered Treasure Cay . This had one serious curve to enter with coral and sand bars not 5 feet away. This channel had stakes though and was fairly well marked. We had a gorgeous sail with the wind right behing us and the sails wing and wing the whole way. Got the anchor down about 5. Reports are that this is one of the best beaches in the Bahamas . We will keep you posted.

Just Cruising

We have been back and forth around what is called the Hub of Abaco. Thisis the center of and area includes Man of War cay, Marsh Harbor and Hopetown and Great Guana Cay too. The water is so beautiful it is difficult to describe. We had been swimming every day until a serious cold front blew through lastTuesday. Temps got cold ( I know 55 doesn't sound cold but it feels cold here. ) and wow did the wind blow! I am constantly impressed with how important the weather is when living on board. The cold could only last a couple of days and we are now managing low 70's and a nice sunny day with fresh breezes. As we sail between cays Tom manages to pick his way through shoals that leave me with my heart in my mouth. I am really avoiding looking at the depth sounder but Tom is good at this. We are both learning to read the water and see the deeper darker watersand stay out of the very light ones. One of the cruising guides said stay out of the pinot grigio! But often my sightings of shallow water are tinged with a paniced voice while Tom just clamly moves into the deeper spaces. We 've done a bit of snorkeling seeing huge sea stars and a few fish. We are finding some great places and exploring. We are looking forward to some sailing now that the winds are less than 40Knots. O yes and the rum it is cheaper than beer wine and maybe even water. This is a charmed life!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone! We're in Hopetown on Elbow Cay in the Abacos and have been having excellent sunny weather (until today...) The internet has been spotty though. Thanks for all of your Merry Christmas and Happy New Year wishes; we missed all of you guys.

Last night we went ashore for Junkanoo. Weird name, good party. Some locals dress up vividly with huge hats and march slowly around town banging drums, shaking noisemakers and generally making as much chaos as possible. There were also great fireworks in the harbor. We haven't been up that late for a while.

Ok, off for lunch in White Sound and for some exploring; we'll be on again soon with pictures and more stories. Keep sending your comments or emails, we love reading about your holiday adventures.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all. We have been cruising about in Abaco. The kids joined us when we reached Marsh Harbor. It is so great to be together! We spent a bit of time in Marsh Harbor but had the best fun in Guana with the kids. Weather was too windy for snorkeling on the reef but the body surfing is fabulous and the bars have pools! Nippers and rabbers have signaure rum drinks and we had to test them! We are well , we miss everyone but we are happy without a white Christmas. We think of you all the time . All our best. We are having a ball.

Crossing to the Bahamas!!!!

Finally, the weather forecasts say that the weather will clock around. The forecast says that east winds will subside and Thurs or Friday come to SE. Briefly to S before coming around again to N. We are ready. As it goes the forecasts change and it looks like the winds might be affected by a "trough" bringing "much needed rain" to Fla. but the wind is still forecast to be SE maybe E SE but there is a south component and 10 - 15K so not too bad. Plus the next weather window probably will not be for 10 days to 2 weeks. We hauled up anchor and headed for the inlet. There are nice anchorages very close to the inlet which will allow for easy navigating in the predawn hours . The skies were rather grey as we were leaving but we optimistically ignored this. Just before we found a spot to anchor the skies opened. We figured this was a brief shower but the rain continued off and on till evening. Our friends and companions for this crossing on "Memory "had completed repairs and anchored close by. We decided not to visit for cocktails since it was raining. Hard. After discussion in even harder rain with building winds, we decided that a 3am crossing to get the 70 miles to Mangrove Cay might be really ambitious. We decided on the closer West End and a 6 am departure. At eleven that night we were awakened by howling winds and a deluge. We were reminded of the leaks which needed repair. Although we knew that we should allow for the seas to settle, we thought that we might still try to get across. The winds were at least E SE . There was no other window in sight. At 6am the winds were not too high and the forecast was for them to come around more SE and diminish. Out the inlet we went navigating by flashlight and optimism. Big rollers on the way out but that is usually the case with inlets. Unfortunately the rollers just got a bit choppier and closer together. They stayed at about 4 feet and higher. But the forecast was for improving and while it wasn't comfortable it wasn't too awful so we decided to continue. As you might suppose the winds came up the waves got higher and we took to hobby horsing as is usually only seen in the rodeo. We were able to assure our friends that the paint on their boat bottom was in great shape . Additionally it rained heavily. We took heavy seas over the bow and rocked side to side when we weren't hobby horsing. Tom was nonplussed. I was seasick. But the gulf stream was an extraordinary color blue and there were flying fish all around. Eventually, we went past the half way point . Then closer to the Bahamas than Fla. At about 10 miles from West End we could start to see something on the horizon. At about 5 miles out the land was clearly visible the seas were less choppy. The wind and our course remained E SE but we knew we were practically there. We entered the break water put up our yellow quarantine flag and called the dock in a blessedly calm basin. The Old Bahama Bay Dock answered with " A pleasant good evening to you captain how may we help" in a lovely island lilt. We are here!!!!!! Everything in the boat is a soggy mess but we are here! We celebrated with cocktails on the dock as we are not supposed to leave our boats until we clear customs and it was 5 when we arrived. We clear customs tomorrow and set off for the Sea of Abaco. I guess we wait for customs But" no problem" right? I hope you have a pleasant good day and a pleasant good evening .

Good things? come to those who wait.....

We have been in North Palm Beach waiting for the weather to turn. After 3 days of North winds a high pressure stalled over the coast bring warm breezy weather with winds from the east about 15K . These have been going on for 5 days. The usual weather calls for these to move clockwise so to the SE, then S then W and finally N. Any thing with S is good to cross Better if winds are not strong . This is of course what we read and hear never having crossed the Gulf Stream before. So we wait and wait and wait. Palm Beach is very nice, great anchorage and a state park not too far away. This park has a cool boardwalk across the mangroves and estuary to the ocean beach. Big surf while we were there. All supplies are close to the dingy landing which is just a strip of sand near highway A1A. We went in often as there is always something needed if you think about it. Supposedly beer is very expensive in the Bahamas so we definately needed that . Plus we kept using up supplies while we waited. One evening as we took the dinghy ashore and started to tie up, we met a police officer. I thought he was a park ranger but he disabused me of that notion quickly. As Tom was trying to get the engine to stay up, he told me when Tom was done he would just do a quick safe boating inspection. I said no thankyou but he said "mam this is not optional". Then he looked for life jackets, whistle, anchor , lights - it was evening- registration etc. of course we had none of the above. After the first couple of requests, he said so you pretty much don;t have any of the reuired items do you? Then he checked with Massachusetts registry for the dinghy and got the message that the fax was difficult to read but it looked like the boat registered was 110 feet long! We discussed that for a while. He gave us a warning for everything except the lifejackets and a 55$ ticket for the lifejackets. He thought he had been very generous. He was a very nice young man but ... So now we can either show up at court to contest this- we could be still waiting for a weather window- pay the fine or have a summons issued for us. We made another dinghy trip with all equipment and paid the fine. A ticket even without a car. I hope it doesn't increase our insurance rates! The wind is still from the east!

Palm Beach

Well we're warm wonderfully,sweatingly warm. The sail down the intracostal from St Augustine is pretty straight just like the coastline . There is a little bit of interesting navigation as you go around inlets and the water is beautiful when it comes in from the sea. Overall straight and shallow, but really fun. We have been seeing lots of dolphins sometimes they swim with us. Once there were 2 on either side of the boat and they swam with us for about 1/2 mile. Tom said that he felt like King Neptune, with his chariot drawn by a team of dolphins. there are many drawbridges on this route and they too provide a bit of a challenge. sometimes there are 3 or 4 in a row. Usually the timing works out but sometimes you get through 2 and wait for the next one for 1/2 hour or so. It always seems that the wind and current push you forward when the bridge is closed and hold you back when the bridge is open and the bridge tender is telling you to keep moving up. Tom is really good at managing to turn and wait in small spots. I make sure I am not at the helm when we are going through drawbridges even though you might think I would be used to them from Eel Pond. O, well. We are in Lake Worth in Palm Beach waiting for the weather to be good for crossing the gulf stream. It is really hard to be patient and we hope we get to the Bahamas before the kids.