Beautiful Bahamian Day

Our last cold front is over and we are having a beautiful day today. It's sunny, about high 60's to low 70's in the shade and life is good! We are getting loads of laundry done early, Internet stuff, then back to the boat to hopefully get our kayaks together at last. Tomorrow we are attending a weather seminar by Chris Parker, our Caribbean weather router, along with loads of other cruisers. there are now apx. 250 boats in Georgetown but there is lots of room for everyone to anchor. Elizabeth harbor is about 1.5 miles across and boats anchor on both sides. Peter is picking up his rebuild kit for the wind generator so life is good! We spend our down days on the boat reading manuals and trying to understand the systems so we can fix things as needed. The best part about being here in Georgetown is having an incredible support net. All you have to do is get on VHF 68 (hailing channel here) and ask a general question for help and people respond very quickly. They have changed the beginning of the cruisers regatta to Monday instead of Wed. because of another strong front coming through Tues. night. So our next blogging time will probably be Monday. Everything is closed on Sundays.

Georgetown Pictures

Our computer wi-fi place







Sign posts on Volleyball Beach





Our local hang out on volleyball Beach, "Chat n Chill



Peter having a close encounter with a manta ray at the beach

Georgetown Feb 23rd

It’s Tuesday, February 23 in the Bahamas, and we sit at anchor in the pouring rain! We spent last night listening to torrential rain and very gusty winds, checking our coordinates often. Our weather guru, Chris Parker, has reported winds calming down this afternoon prior to another front with squalls 30-40K tomorrow. It helps to hear from friends in Florida that this is the worst winter there in 10 years! (Hope Bruce & Dorsey had a good weather window in FL!) We have heard bits & pieces of the weather in NE and it seems like it’s the same for you. We arrived in Elizabeth Harbor 2 weeks ago, Feb. 8th and have only spent 4 nights at the docks. We are becoming so much more comfortable with anchoring and staying put!! We moved onto Kinvara May 15, 2009 and, except for 6 weeks off, we have been living aboard since then. By the time we get back to Florida in mid April we will have been liveaboards for 9.5 months.
So far we went snorkeling once, had a dance party on the beach last Friday, and some days in Georgetown grocery shopping and doing bills on internet. There has not been too much socializing between boats because of the weather.
Peter read in a boating magazine that cruising is “fixing things in exotic places”. So true!! Not sure Georgetown would be described as exotic but the fixing part is true. Peter has been working (on the phone) with our wind generator installer for about a month to trouble shoot the problem with the wind generator. Nothing has worked and he has found 20 other boats here in Georgetown with the same issues. Our installer has been great and requested a rebuild kit be mailed here to us under warranty. The problem appears to be with the brushes wearing (on the newer models only) and becoming disconnected, signaling the “brain” to go into free spin and breaking. Our blades have been tied off now for 2 weeks to survive the noise from constant breaking. Unfortunately we have not had many sunny days so solar generation is spotty. So, we are running the engine for 2 hours each day and using a Honda 2000 for recharging computers, etc. What is working for us are the freezer and water maker (Thanks Bruce and Cleave from Sea Frost!!).
We were sitting out last night and talking about how lucky we were to make a last minute decision in Annapolis to enclose the cockpit with panels. It has completely saved our trip many times over, protecting us from strong cold winds and rain and given us another space to live in. Anyone contemplating this addition we highly recommend it!!
We look forward to a weather workshop by Chris Parker here on Saturday, the start of the Georgetown Cruisers Regatta on Monday or Tuesday, and the beginning of better weather. We are waiting for the winds to turn to the predominant E—SE before heading north again. Hopefully that will happen in 2 weeks!

Georgetown Happenings

Today is Thursday , February 18. Our company, Liz, left last Saturday and we left the dock on monday. We have anchored on the other side of the harbor near sand dollar beach. The weather has not turned around much. We have had lots of wind still and cloudy skies. We are committed to staying here in Georgetown until we see that great bahamas weather we have heard about. Today I picked up the new starter assembly for my outboard. What a story. I had Andrew order it from the ship store in Newport and had it shipped to a company in FtLauderdale. They flew it here to Georgetown for $15.75. Then the fun started. I had to get a cab to the airport which cost $25, pay the shipping agent $20 for the paperwork. I then had to return to town to pay the $20 import tax at the customs office. This morning I rented a scooter for $20 and returned to the airport to pick up the package. How is that for supporting the economy of the Bahamas. By the way the original part cost $85. I am glad to say that the part has been installed and all is working fine.
I went snorkeling with a few friends two days ago and saw some more exotic fish. It was cold so I did not stay in the water very long. We hope to do a lot more snorkeling when the weather improves. One of the fish I saw was called a tiger fish and I found out later that if he had stong me I could have died. Needless to say I will avoid that one the next time.
There must be over 200 boats here now and more arrive every day. It seems as if most have been here before and know that the weather is about to improve in the next few weeks. I will try to post some pictures tomorrow to make the entry more enjoyable.

The weather has gone downhill since we arrived here on Monday. The wind blew at 15 to 20 knots all day Tuesday and through the night last night. We decided to move into the marina for the weekend as there is a more severe front coming through Friday night into Saturday. We will be saying goodbye to Liz on Saturday. She will be flying to Ft.Lauderdale and then driving back to our home in Solivita for a few days to do some shopping and packing for her trip home on the 16th. This is definitely the place for cruisers for the winter. There has to be between 150 and 200 boats moored and anchored here. As one of my friends said it is like been on a cruise ship without the ship. Every morning the radio announces the activities for the day. Volleyball on the beach, Yoga, Ham Radio Courses, Choir Practice, Church Services, etc,etc.
Our friend Dave Ball took Liz snorkeling today while Jane and I took care of business on the boat. Dave speared his first lobster of the season. I did not see it but he claimed it was 3+Lbs. For those of you who do not know, the Bahamas lobster is not like the New England lobster. No claws and the only part that is eaten is the tail. Liz is hoping to get a couple tomorrow for our last dinner together. If you are following the blog you would have seen a picture of some tails we had when Patricia and Willy were here with us.

February 14, 2010

Happy Valentine's Day

We woke this morning to calm seas and sunny days. Our wind generator is finally fixed (hopefully) with the help of Brian, an electrical engineer from San Diego, CA, who has been on his boat with wife for 1.5 years. they are headed to Grenada for hurricane season. We finally feel like things are improving now. It was chilly, 70's (sorry snow country), but sunny and a happy day. Peter and I bought chocolates for each other and are riding the sugar high today!! After visiting our friends on Persephone we dingied across the harbor to volleyball Beach. there is a beach bar & deck restaurant which has a pig roast every Sunday. Delicious!! it included rice & peas, mac & cheese, carrots, and cole slaw. Mac & Cheese and rice & peas are staple side dishes like french fries or potatoes are at home. Last night we went to a restaurant, Peace & Plenty, for a Valentine's dinner of steak & lobster which was delish!!!

Kinvara rode out the front at the dock and we are leaving it tomorrow to re-anchor across the harbor again for a couple weeks. there are a few more fronts predicted but not as big as the one which just went through. We will take pics over the next week and post them the next time we get into town for internet. It is free outside Exuma markets, except mail boat day, when they shut it down to do their own inventory. So check in again in a few days for the next installment.

Elizabeth Harbor, Georgetown Island

We left Farmers Cay by 7:15AM and had a beautiful day motor sailing south to Georgetown. We had to zig-zag our way into the harbor around reefs & sand bars but made it safely thanks to our Explorer charts, which everyone uses as a bible. Our anchor is down in 8' of water with sand under. Great holding. We have seen almost every boat we met in Farmers Cay. when the weather turns good everyone moves. Our friends from Persephone, Dave and Trudie, are nearby so it was nice to see them again. We left them in the ICW at St Augustine, FL in December. Today we spent the morning in the town getting groceries and checking the emails. The Exuma Market has free wi-fi for cruisers at their outdoor picnic tables and also free water at their dingy dock. We had a nice lunch and are now awaiting the shipment of fresh produce, fruit, and milk to clear customs and get into the store. The mail boat only arrives Tuesdays once a week so everyone is h ere waiting also!! Tuesdays will be our laundry and shopping day. We plan to hang here for about 3-4 weeks and then start heading North again. It's like adult camp. On one side of the harbor are dozens of anchored boats and a few organize all kinds of activities. We have the book to study for our beginning ham license and there is a meeting on the beach Wed. for those interested in taking the test the end of Feb. We have a cruiser coming over this afternoon to help Peter troubleshoot the wind generator which is not working. Every morning at 8AM you go onto VHF 72 to listen to the days events. Even the local businesses get their turn to advertise their business. Hilarious. Crossing the harbor to the town is at least a mile for us and today it was real choppy so we got a little wet. We won't be blogging every day---only when we get into town. So maybe once or twice a week. But we will let you know what's going on and send pics when we can download.

By the way, we bought an unlocked phone with a local sim card so we can be reached for emergencies since we won't have daily Internet service. I don't know what you dial for the Bahamas but our local number is 242-524-7628. We keep it turned on all the time because we can't find a message feature on it. So if anyone really needs to talk to us then call. We have to top up the credit on the phone every now and again.

Farmers Cay Sat 6th. Feb 2010

Sat morning arrived and the weather forecast was not good. Little did we know what the day would bring as we sat and ate breakfast and discussed plans for the day. The boat races were scheduled for 11 o'clock but it was soon realized that the weather would cancel all those plans. The winds picked up to 30+ knots and the rain pelted down for a few hours. By mid-afternoon the weather cleared and we watched as two Bahamian Navy vessels approached our dock. When they drew up alongside we were devastated at what we saw. Both boats were overflowing with Haitian refugees that they had rescued from a boat adrift off the coast of the island. They were wet and cold and we could only guess that they had not eaten for days. Jane and I were in pieces seeing all these people scared and in shock. Within a short period of time word spread throughout the boating community and the island and we saw demonstrated the best and the worst of humanity. Needless to say some of the island people were nervous that the refugees would be brought ashore to their island and they have a hard enough time supporting themselves. The situation was tense for a short time but the local police and navy personnel removed the natives from the pier and a serious incident was avoided. As I said the best of humanity was also on display. The VHF radio was working overtime and within an hour dingys were arriving from every boat in the harbor with clothes, food, blankets and whatever they could find that would offer some comfort to the poor people. The local restaurants began cooking everything they could muster up and load after load of food, water,etc arrived at the dock. As I write this tonight all these people are huddled together on the open decks of the navy boats just feet away from us. The wind is howling and it is cold and damp. It is heart-braking to experience such a tragedy. If there is a silver lining it is that the were rescued and did not drown in there attempt to escape such devastation in their country. Who knows what tomorrow will bring. One officer told me that there is possibly another boat load on the sea between here and Nassau. The Bahamian forces do not have the resources to handle this situation so I hope this incident does not repeat itself many more times throughout the islands. It is with a heavy heart we go to bed tonight and we pray that they will all find safety wherever they finally arrive.

Farmers Cay Festival Day

After we went to bed last night we noticed the wind increasing and the waves. while we don't have the surge and rocking when on anchor we traded it for splashing on our stern. It felt like we were inside a washing machine all night. Peter finally gave up and moved to the settee with his Bose headphones on. Jane actually slept in spite of the splashing until 4AM or so. Our Irish crew, Liz, did not appear out of her cabin until 8:30 this morning. The winds are clocking 22-25k sustained so we are so happy to be at the dock. Not sure about the Bahama boat races. Next to us is a Bahama Defense Force boat with a crew of 4-5. Three of them came back at 2:30AM after a good time. This morning we see some of the local race crew on our dock and they are all drinking beers. I hope this race finishes without tragedy.

We monitor channel 16 whenever on the boat. It is used instead of cell phones here. You hear people calling each other, talking on 16 (instead of just hailing) and we have been told to relax and don't become the VHF police. There was an announcement just made about the festivities: meet on the beach at 12, wet T-shirt contest at 1, best male buns at 2, best male legs at 2:30, and couples egg throwing contest at 3. prizes for each are a bottle of rum. I think we will stay clear of that!!!

The day was really great. We hung out in the village center watching Martin making fresh conch salad.....really good with chopped conch, chopped veggies, and lots of lime juice! Later in the day we watched boat races off the plane runway and had ring side seats. There is so much about the festival that reminded us of the Cruinniu na mBad Festival(gathering of the boats) in Peter's town (Kinvara) each August. There is food, music, drink, and boat races.

The night ended with Roosevelt's rum punch and dinner aboard of cracked conch and salad.

Little Farmers Cay

We left Staniel Cay behind yesterday (as well as the mosquitoes) and had a wonderful sail (NO MOTOR) to Farmer's Cay. The course into the cay was a little serious. The charts and guide books tell you to set a 90' course to the little white house on the hill. So that's what we did. Jane stood on the bow atop the life raft box, life jacket on & tied on, with headphones connected to Peter on the helm. It's what the charts call VPR...visual piloting rules....basically you read the water instead of your GPS because the sand bars are constantly shifting. We made it safely into the inside harbor and followed directions on the VHF from the "mooring meister" who gave us visual and magnetic references to the anchorage. We set 2 anchors "Bahamian" style to account for the currents. Well we were partially over a sand bar so when the tides started to roll in or out our boat started to roll from side to side pretty violently. Needless to say we did not sleep..peter stayed in his clothes...worry about the anchor....noises from everything knocking or rolling. Our morning weather report did not make us feel better. The winds were picking up today to 20k, tomorrow 22-25k and a front coming through here Friday to Saturday with squalls 30-40k. So we were lucky to move to the Farmers Cay Yacht Club dock. They have 4 spaces, no electric, water, or showers but it's calm and protected from the SW winds coming.
The owner is Roosevelt Nixon, a local Bahamian, and a really nice person. he let us use his 1 washer & dryer for free and gave us wireless for free. There was a happy hour with Rum punch for $3 and free conch fritters. We had a blast with about 20-30 other people So tonight we sit, relaxing after steak on the grill & salad. Life is good.

Tomorrow and Saturday we plan to enjoy their famous 5F festival...Farmers First Friday Famous Festival. There are suppose to be boat races tomorrow and food stalls, etc. Then our marina is sponsoring the super bowl party Sunday afternoon. So we may stay for that and leave Monday for Georgetown. Tomorrow we will post some pictures of this pretty place.

Staniel Cay Pictures

The famous pigs of Staniel Cay. Not shy about swimming out to the dingy to get fed. Peter brought Janes white soda bread which did not pass the test (lumpy flour) but the pigs loved it!

In the afternoon at thunderball cave peter took a picture of the incredible fish through our "looky" bucket. he made this at the suggestion of Duncan from our dock at NEB in Rhode Island.

Staniel Cay

We left Monday in 20k headwinds for Staniel Cay. After motor sailing in deep water (15') we negotiated shallow water (5-6')to get into the Cay channel. We were travelling with s/v Riverbird, the boat which we crossed the banks with from Bimini. The anchorage had lots of cross currents so we found an empty mooring ball belonging to Club Thunderball (now closed) and hooked on. Bad choice. It was near the cut to the deep water Exuma sound and between the tides, currents, and strong winds we rocked hard all night, listening to waves crash on the shore. No one had a good sleep. BUT it did rain hard for about 10 minutes and washed the salt off the boat. Tuesday dawned sunny and calmer so we decided to motor into the Staniel Cay yacht club for diesel and a tie up for the night. At $2 per foot and no shower or laundry facilities it was not the best bargain. Liz walked to a beach and Peter and Jane walked to town. There are 2 shops for supplies, the Blue House and the Pink House. Since one was closed we had no choice. No fresh produce until the weekly mail boat comes in. This is the norm in these islands. Thank goodness for canned or dried fruits and veg. After our little walk we decided to dingy about 1 mile around Big Majors island to a beach. Upon arrival some large pigs broke out of the shrubs and started to swim to the boat!! peter brought bread (OK we knew about the pigs from Persephone) and fed them. A quick exit when they started to fight over the crumbs.

When we returned to the boat we picked Liz up and dingied to Thunderball Cave to snorkel. This is the cave featured in the 007 movie Thunderball. You have to snorkel only at slack low tide. Jane stayed in the dingy with Pretzel and a line to throw in case they could not get back to the dingy. The island provides small floats you can tie your dingy to while snorkeling.

We had a wonderful 4 course dinner at the yacht club ($29). Included soup, salad, entree, potato & veg, and dessert. Delicious & hot! Everyone decided to go to bed early due to lack of sleep last night. Unfortunately the little "no see ums" we thought were out turned to be little mosquitoes and Jane got 10 or more bites. she & Peter sat in bed for about 45min just trying to get them all. This is our first contact with the little buggers in the Bahamas.

Will post pictures when we move on. preparations are underway now to shove off the dock in 30 min or so (mid tide to get over those 1.5meter shallows) to Farmers Cay. There is a festival going on Friday so we want to be there for that. Weather is sunny but no wind so iron jenny again. Over and out from Staniel Cay Yacht Club.

Exuma park Pics

Boo Boo Hill & "Kinvara" sign

Jane crossing Banshee Creek

Beautiful queen conch shells...can not take with you!

Peter feeding the little birds