Junkanoo in Nassau Sat 27th. March

Jane is taking care of business back in Florida and I am doing my best to stay occupied here while she is away. My old school buddy from Ireland picked me up at 1pm and we had lunch and watched the Manchester United soccer match live from England. I am sure our old pal Achie was glued to his set in England if indeed he was not at the match. Way to go team, great win.
My friends, Ian and Rene, picked me up again at 8pm and we drove over to Paradise Island. Wow, what a place. You could smell and taste money the minute you crossed the bridge to the island. I have seen many large private yachts in the past several years but the collection moored in the marina there was beyond belief. Of course they were all stern in to the dock so you had a full view of all the luxury on board. They really were an awesome sight. After having a bite to eat we went on a grand tour. The Junkanoo parade was just getting underway and of course we joined in the festivities and went along with the flow. This is just a small example of the real festival that is held on the islands a few times a year. The costumes are awesome as you will see in my pictures.
I had never been in a real casino before and I was blown away with the size and the action at the tables and machines. One look at the stores surrounding the casino and you know that money flows like water there. You have to be careful walking through the casino because all the eye candy sprinkled around can distract you and you could easily stumble or bump into people!! After passing through the casino we went on an undersea fantasy walk through the ruins of Atlantis. I think they outdid Disney with this entire complex. By the way for my friends up north there was a man making Cuban cigars right in the store in the casino. They seem to be reasonable ranging in price from $15 to $25 for the hand rolled ones on the table. I am sure there were much more expensive ones in the surrounding glass cases and storage room.
What a contrast to what we have experienced throughout the islands for the past few months, in fact what a contrast from one side of the bridge to the other right here in Nassau.

Friday March 26th

Well it had to happen sooner or later, Jane has flown the coop.

She flew out yesterday and is at this moment enjoying our home in Solivita. We needed to get a few things taken care of in regards to our taxes so she volunteered to return for the weekend and take care of business. It is a good thing she went back because she found the pool pump leaking and both cars dead as a doornail. Of course I am trying to survive here with pretzel and it is not easy!!! I hope I do not starve to death before her return!!!

The weather has been good. Lots of boats heading south through the islands and lots heading north and west back to the States and on to Canada. We will be following back to the States sometime in the next week or two. We will be taking the boat to a marina on the St John river near Jackonsville for the summer. I have some work to do on it to prepare for our next voyage.

I am attaching a few funny pictures from our walk through Nassau.

Tuesday 23rd. Nassau

We decided to play Tommy Tourists today so we took the bus from our marina to down town. We had traveled through the area with my friend Ian yesterday and decided there were some places we wanted to visit on foot.

For those of you who are familiar with English history you will know that prior to WWII King George 6th of England abdicated his thrown under pressure because he fell in love with an American commoner, Wallis Simpson, whom he later married. It has been rumored throughout history that he was also a Nazi sympathizer and he was given the post of Governor of the Bahamas to get him away from England and the European situation. We visited the governor’s mansion where they lived and it was surreal walking in the steps of such famous and controversial people. On the long stairway leading up the hill to the mansion is a life size statue of Christopher Columbus.

The city holds so much history within its streets and buildings. At the moment Peter is reading ‘The Republic of Pirates’ and it is amazing to read the history of the golden age of pirates and their association with Nassau and the surrounding islands where we have spent the past 3 months. Having read a substantial amount of the book it is easy to see why so many sailors turned to piracy in that period of history. The cruelty inflicted on sailors by the British navy and the merchant captains at that time was beyond belief and many turned to piracy just to survive. The golden age only lasted for 10 years from 1715 to 1725 but during that time the course of history was changed for Europe and the colonies forever.
Across the harbor from our marina is Paradise Island. The hotel area and casino are free to enter but if you want to avail of the other amenities such as the pool etc. it costs $108 a day. That is much more than Disney; I wonder what they offer for that? I think we will look from afar this time around!! As usual there were several cruise ships at the docks with lots of passengers roaming the shopping areas.
Starbucks is just across the street from our marina with free wifi so we can check our email every day and do updates to the blog. Of course it is nice to have a Latte again after two months. We may be here until early next week due to a few more weather fronts coming our way. I guess it is not a bad place to spend a week!!

Saturday March 20th

We left Highborne Cay by 8:30AM to make our final stop in the Exuma Islands. Kinvara travelled apx. 3 miles to Allen’s Cay. This is a beautiful anchorage between 3 small islands, Allen’s Cay, SW Allen’s Cay, and Leaf Cay. When we arrived there were only 3 boats anchored there. Once our anchor was set we sat to relax and take in the beauty. It was a warm sunny day with little wind and very clear water. Within 30 minutes of anchoring we packed our dingy with grapes and lettuce and cameras to go to the beach to see the rock iguanas. They live on the smaller 2 islands and will come out of the bushes as your dingy comes close to the beach. We had Pretzel with us so we did not land. Dogs are not allowed ashore for obvious reasons. The pictures speak for themselves!!
We dingied to a smaller beach with fewer iguanas. Peter was able to get out of the boat and get some great pictures. While there we saw a small seaplane land, taxi into the harbor and pull right up onto the beach so the passengers did not getting out. Later in the day as we sat on Kinvara relaxing we saw “tourist boats” pull in, another larger seaplane land, and numerous large tenders from the mega yachts at Highborne Cay. By the late afternoon our quiet anchorage had 10 boats anchored for the night. There goes the neighborhood!!
Sunday March 21
Overnight the wind picked up and Kinvara rocked around fighting opposing winds and currents. Both of us did not sleep well. By the time 7:30AM came we decided to move on to Nassau and back to civilization. Our course was a straight path NW to the outskirts of Nassau Harbor. The sun was shining and winds blowing 15-20K. Our sails came out and we sailed a beam reach for about 2 hours going an average of 6K SOG with water depths of 20’. We had to cross an area called the Yellow Banks where the water depth falls to 12’ or so and there are numerous shallow coral heads. We were very happy that the sun continued to shine and the clouds disappeared. It gave us great visibility in the water. You have to keep watch ahead of you but you can’t miss those shallow coral heads. They are very black spots in the water so you just navigate around them. We pulled some sail in and turned the motor on to give us more ability to maneuver. We had not come this way south so it was a little exciting to pass through the scattered corals. This is the main route to the Exumas so everyone has to do the same. We made sure we crossed on a rising tide with good visibility. On the charts it says “This area navigated by VPR (visual piloting rules). That means you don’t set a course and auto pilot and leave it. You have to “read the water”, watch for hazards and hand steer around them. It actually sounds scarier than it is. The ICW was worse for navigating around shoaling. We have found that if you have the current guides, plan ahead, and mark your charts with notes that you will be fine. We used Captain Bob & ICW charts and calling Sea Tow along the way for local shoaling conditions on the ICW. For the Bahamas the Explorer Charts are the best along with Stephen Pavlidis guides to the Bahamas for background and tips on all the islands. Our GPS is a Navionics chip and it is not as detailed as we would have liked. Before each trip we have to go through the Explorer charts & guides to program in the waypoints for our route. There have been places on our GPS where there is no depth charted but it is shown on the Explorer charts. A lot of people have used Garmin GPS which uses the Explorer chart info for their Bahamas programs.
Once across the Yellow Banks we kept motor sailing. We had following seas of 6’ (waves coming from behind) and it was quite rolly! We made it into Nassau by 1PM, just after high tide, and pulled into our marina, the Nassau Harbor Club. Peter’s friend, Dr Ian Kelly, met us at 6:30 and took us to the “Fish Fry”. This is a series of small brightly painted & decorated buildings along the waterfront which serve Bahamain food with lots of loud music. It is a gathering place for locals and tourists, where you will experience lots of Bahamain culture and wait an hour to get get your food!! The rum punch is very good though!

Highborne Cay Marina

Friday, March 19

Yesterday we spent another lovely day in the park with partly cloudy skies. We had afternoon tea aboard s/v Altona, friends from Canada we met on the ICW, and a pot luck dinner with s/v Seawalk on our last night. We will miss them and wish them safe travels. May our paths meet again sometime. The hardest part of cruising is meeting up with such nice people and then having to leave and say good by!

Today we left our mooring by 8AM in 15-20k winds. the seas were 3-4' on the Exuma Banks side of the islands (shallow water). It was uncomfortable and Peter hand steered most of the way. We thought at first, Why did we leave?, but after 2 hours or so you get used to the rhythm of the boat and just don't go below!!After 5 hours we reached Highborne Cay and got a space in the marina. This island is privately owned and the marina is rented for transient use. Most boats are the fishing variety, and there are 2 mega yachts here too. There are only 14 slips for boats our size and dock space for 3 mega yachts. After 12 days with no services it was a relief to dispose of our trash (kept in the aft locker), wash down the boat, and refresh. Unfortunately we are sitting inside now, at 8PM, because the mosquitoes are swarming. Another thing you HAVE to have in the Bahamas are screens for your hatches. We did not have any mosquitoes on the way south but they appeared about 2 weeks ago. Bring lots of bug spray and anti itch cream!

We did a short walk across the island to the east side beach which is 3 miles long and beautiful!! It was absolutely calm on this side away from the wind. We bought lobster off a local fisher man and had that for dinner. Yummy!!! Tomorrow we hope to be at Allen's Cay, only a couple miles North. It is one of the few places where iguanas live. then we go to Nassau. We won't have Internet again until Nassau but you can see our boat track on the blog.

Love these "road" signs on Highborne Cay.

Captain's log, March 17th.

While my good friend Patricia celebrated a special birthday today and my cousin Liz opened her store in Kinvara for the 2010 season I snorkeled through some of the most awesome reefs in the Exuma Park. It is hard to describe the beauty of the undersea world I encountered, the only comparison is standing in front of an aquarium at sea world in Florida. The species of fish swimming in and out of various types of coral heads with their magnificent colors and their total lack of fear of the human invasion into their territory was awe inspiring. I am not a very religious person but this experience makes one look deep into ones soul and wonder about the existence of a higher power somewhere.It was a different way to spend St. Patrick's day for me away from friends and family but my thoughts were with you all and hope you all had a happy and safe celebration.

Wed. March 17th

Happy St Patrick's Day to our friends & family!!

Granuaile's castle on Clare Island, Co Mayo. Jane's grandmother was born on this island.

We have had beautiful weather this week. yesterday we sat outside and watched an exodus of 12 or more boats leaving. Most are heading south. I think we will have a jump on those heading North. Of course maybe they know something we don't know?

We have been able to tour in the dingy and snorkel over reefs. Yesterday we took turns snorkeling in a deep pool made by the low tide. There were dozens of species of tropical fish with beautiful bright colors. It was spectacular! There was also Barry, the barracuda, who lives in these waters and is supposedly used to people swimming around. Peter got a good look at him, about 3' to 4' long, but Jane decided to quit. she had her ring and diamond studs in her ears and people have said not to snorkel with shiny objects on. She didn't want to prove them wrong. So Barry will not get a visit from Jane anytime soon. There is also a resident sand shark named Bruce although we haven't seen him while snorkeling he has swam by our boat on a few occasions.

Today Peter is helping friends, Ralph & Wendy, take down their torn head sail and repair it on the beach. Wendy has a sailrite machine with hand a crank. Lucky her because their are no sail repairs in the Exumas. Jane is helping Isabelle from Sea Walk to finish the kids trail. They have the questionnaire and Junior Ranger Certificate done on the computer and now have to put little hand-print signs up along the trail. it's nice to leave behind something positive. We are planning to depart this lovely place on Friday and head to the only marina before Nassau at Highborne Cay. We have lots of trash bags to dispose of and refresh the fuel & laundry. Our water maker is working great and really lets you be independent. Our solar & wind generator have done their job for 2 weeks now. In fact yesterday we were fully charged (13.10) by late afternoon!!! Today it is overcast & light winds so we won't recharge much and may turn on the Honda 2000 generator for a while.

Every day we wash out our clothes from the previous day (if needed) and by 1PM they have been dry. Of course that is usually shirts & underclothing since we wear shorts 3-4 days at a time! Doing a little each day helps us keep up with it. The only thing we can't do is sheets & towels because they take too much water to wash & rinse. So you need to bring lots of spares (along with boat parts)if you do this trip and want to be anchored for a while. Our fresh supplies are very limited now. We are into our Parmelot milk again, canned veggies, and homemade bread. Looking forward to restocking fresh veggies in Nassau.

Well we won't have corn beef & cabbage tonight but instead I will make pork chops, potato & carrots. We do have whiskey & beer (of the Irish variety) for before----or after. Have a great day everyone & don't celebrate too hard!

Monday 15th. Exuma Park

We have lucked out with the weather for the past few days. We have had high winds at night but the days clear up and the sun comes out and life is good. Today we met with Isabella and her children and another lady from a Canadian boat that we met on the ICW last fall and hiked several miles through the island. We visited some blow holes and traveled through a mangrove swamp, saw many different kinds of trees and other vegetation and several scampering little lizards. The trail took us by a secluded beach with white sand as soft as talcum powder. We also passed Boo Boo Hill on our way and checked to see if our sign we put there 6 or 7 weeks ago was still there. We located it among the hundreds of pieces of drift wood with boat names and placed it in a prominent place for all to see.
We listen to the weather every morning and it looks like we are in for a positive change over the next week or so. It will be nice to have good weather for our trek back through the islands. Several weeks ago in Georgetown a local man told us we would have about three more weeks of unsettled weather and then fair weather will take over, he hit it on the head I hope.

Sat 13th

We survived yet another front this morning. At least it held off until dawn. The wind blew at 28+K and the rain pelted down. We had some thunder and lightning but most of that moved north of us. Following the blow we had a wonderful sunny warm day. The wind was a little strong but that just helped to dry our laundry.

Jane took a walk on the island to see some blow-holes with Isabelle and her two children from our sister ship 'Sea Walk" and Peter babysat pretzel and started a new book. This one is about a crazy guy who kyaked around Ireland. We have given some thought to sailing around Ireland but doing it in a kyak is not very appetising to us. This evening, as on every Sat. evening at the park, people gather on the beach and bring an appetizer and whatever they want to drink and

have a social hour or two. If weather permits the park ranger lights a bonfire and a good time is had by all.

Today we have seen several very large Rays swimming near our boat and Jane saw a large Sea Turtle while standing on the swim platform of Sea Walk. We are happy to spend some more time here and will wait to get a clear weather window early next week before moving on.

A Day in the Park

Laundry Day aboard Kinvara. We always knew the radar arch would come in handy!!








The local dinosaur on the beach. (Opps..did I say that?)
Pretzel loves to run & play on the beach. She is collapsed
now, sound asleep on the boat.








The resident nurse shark comes to visit the beach each afternoon.

Captain & Admiral

Admiral's Angle March 10, Wednesday

I am sitting in the cockpit this afternoon, overlooking Warderick Wells, a land & sea park in the central Exuma Island chain. It is sunny, high 70’s, with a stiff 15-20k breeze and I am totally at peace with the Bahamas….finally!

We left our anchorage yesterday at Blackpoint and had a most perfect day of 5 hours sailing north. We had 12-15k of wind, no current or swells because we were on the shallow & protected bank, and averaged 6+k of speed over ground. It was just glorious to sail along with no engine running and not worrying about time. We left at 9:30AM to travel 23 miles and arrived 4.5 hours later. This is a place we visited before for 2 nights but this time we intend to stay for a week. There is another front coming through Saturday and it would be a race to find an anchorage protected from W NW winds so we will stay put. Hopefully the weather will be nice enough for some dingy exploration and snorkeling. Pretzel loves the beach and we love the peace & quiet of the place and the simple setting. As long as our provisions last we are fine. We can probably be self sufficient enough to last 3 weeks without visiting a store.

We happened upon another boat, s/v Sea Walk, which we met in Bimini when we first arrived in the Bahamas. Serge & Isabella, a couple from Holland with their 2 children ages 4 & 7, have been on their boat for 3 years now. We have really enjoyed their company and I get to play grandmother to the little ones, Katy & Aec.

I miss our house, family, and friends but I really love being on the boat and cruising to new destinations. It would be fun to continue further but that will wait for another winter. I have learned to take the good with the bad. While the weather has not been the best, I love waking each day to see the crystal clear water and looking at the bottom even in 15' of water!! I have found most of the islands to have very friendly people who think nothing of passing you on the street with a "good afternoon". It is a country of first and third world conditions. In the smaller out islands it looks like a third world country but many people have cell phones, look well dressed, and there is Internet available for us in many public cafes. It is a much slower way of life where Bahamian time could be anytime. You wait for almost any service with patience because what else can you do? We are here to relax and experience a different culture. It makes you appreciate home all the more. I really miss pizza!!

Captains Log, March 9th. 2010

It has been brought to my attention by some friends that our blog has led some of our faithful followers to believe that we have given up our quest and are heading home with our tails between our legs. Nay, Nay I say to you, the quest lives on and the journey continues. I must admit at times that it is difficult to stay positive when all around you are loosing their collective heads. This has been happening because of this weather feature called 'El Ninno'. This weather pattern has been causing havoc across the US and the Bahamas all winter and we would all like to stick the proverbial flag pole up 'El Ninno's' you no what if it were at all possible.
We had planned to stay a month in Georgetown which we did and we are now making our way back north through the islands and hope to be back in the USA by the last week in April. I hope this has helped to put an end to those silly rumors. Of course the thought of the warm swimming pool and my trusty golf clubs does enter my mind now and then but I quickly dismiss them and take care of the tasks at hand.
Follow on you faithful few and we will keep the saga from the Islands coming as frequently as we can access the Internet.

Monday 8th March, Georgetown to Black Point

The Bahamas Gods finally gave us a break from high winds and seas, or so we thought, so we left Georgetown at 7.30 this morning exactly 4 weeks after arriving there. We motored out of Elizabeth Harbor with 20 or so other sail boats. Once out past the reefs in the deeper water of Exuma Sound we were able to sail in 15 to 20k winds and seas of 3 to 4ft. The wave angle was good and we were able to use full sails, reefing only on a few occasions for 20+k gusts. We decided to head as far north as we could get in a day. Our destination was Black Point Settlement on Great Guana Cay in the central Exuma island chain. Our trip was approximately 56nm and we traveled it in just about 8 hours. The most difficult part of the trip was the last mile or so. We had to pass through a cut which was only a couple of hundred feet wide with opposing tides. It was like a maelstrom passing through with 6 ft waves throwing us from side to side. We surfed the last 100 yards of the passage and entered a completely different enviroment than we just left in Exuma sound. It is calm, quiet, and we just finished a wonderful dinner of grilled steaks, salad & potatoes.
Tomorrow we are hoping to make it back to the Exuma Land & Sea park, a place we loved on our way south 5 or 6 weeks ago. The moorings are assigned daily to boats on a wait list. We will know tomorrow morning at 9 o'clock if we have a mooring. The park makes daily announcements on the VHF radio each morning and inform boats of their assigned moorings, if they are lucky enough to get one. At the park you have to be self sufficient. Ther are no stores, trash disposal, or other services. You need to have plenty of fuel, power, and food. Our water maker has been going 2 times a week and is working great. Our freezer is still half full of meats from home so we are in good shape. Peter makes Irish Brown Bread from mixes we vacuum packed, Jane packed plenty of canned tuna, salmon, crabmeat and chicken. We have discovered that canned chicken is really good for salad, stir fry, and curry. We still have a stock of Parmalat Milk when we cant get fresh milk and it is good on cereal, baking or even drinking in a pinch. If we run out of half & half we have evaporated milk which again we can use in a pinch. It is amazing how you can cope when all the essentials we take for granted at home are not available. We have found however that we can find many items in the stores on the islands that we can buy in Ireland. Some of these are Kerry Gold butter, crackers, wheatabix, Chivers jams and marmalade, cookies and Cadbury candy and boxes of chocolates. Peter is in Heaven!!! Most regular items such as paper towels($3.02), Milk($4.77), Qt cream($5.99) etc, etc are very expensive and you leave the store with shell shock most of the time. If you cruise the Bahamas bring lots of provisions!!

Georgetown 6th Mar.

Well we did not get away today as we expected. The morning brought yet more high winds and rough seas. We decided to stay put for another day and enjoy our next step of our journey to Emerald Bay which is just a short skip and a jump from here. We have heard lots of good reports on this marina and we are looking forward to spending a day there to stock up and refuel for our trek north. Tomorrow should be mild and we hope to set off before noon.

Peter has begun to read like he has never done before. I guess that is a sign that he is relaxed and beginning to withdraw from reality. I wonder if that is a good or bad thing? He does miss his fix of sailing mags. He will have a lot of catching up to do when we get back to the States.

Most of the friends we met here have gone to Long Island and then on to Conception Island for the weekend. We thought about going but it would add another week to our stay and give us a longer journey back north. If the weather was better we would have considered it but the decision was easy to make because of the conditions.

Yesterday Peter bought a beautiful Conch shell and proceeded to make his very own Conch Horn. He has not mastered the blowing part yet but I am sure on our way back he will figure it out and begin blowing it at sunset as many cruisers do all over the Bahamas. At the opening ceremony for the regatta there was an orchestra of about 20 Conch blowers. It was an awesome experience to hear them all blow together in one spot.

Best wishes to all our readers. Keep in touch.

After the Storm

The last front was really a non-event through the night but all day yesterday the winds blew 20-25k. Last night we slept with blankets and today feels like a fall day. We are sitting here with jeans & sweatshirts. When we leave the dock this time we are heading North. We are ready to head home. It has been colder than usual with cold northerly fronts coming through every 3 days. I guess we should not complain, at least we get a good day in between cold fronts. We know it has been a tough winter up in New England also. We hope the weather in Florida has changed for the better. We have been hearing that it has been a cold winter there also. We are ready to get back home and heat up the pool and do some golfing.

Our day at the beach after kayaking in.

Peter uses the "looky" bucket to view coral at low tide.

Pretzel decides she will not be left on the beach alone so she swims out to us 20' off shore. the first time she tried this she was without a life jacket!! she is a determined little girl.

Kinvara dressed for the Georgetown Regatta...before the front came through!!

Coral through the clear bottomed bucket.

Beach Weather!

After our last shore visit to do the blog we returned to the boat and finally put our kayaks together and paddled to the beach at our anchorage. It was the best day we have had since coming to the Bahamas. Peter paddled alone and Pretzel rode with Jane, whining all the way. She was just hoping Pretzel did not try to jump out because they would both go over. Later that afternoon we met another couple on the beach next to the marina to clean it up. When we were at the marina 10 days ago we sat looking at a much littered beach in front of a small graveyard so Peter got some others interested in cleaning it up. It looks great now!!

Saturday was another beautiful day so we took the dingy to the beach and decided to explore a small coral reef about 40-50’ off shore that was partly exposed, due to a very low tide (full moon). Peter took the clear bottom bucket he made and we saw really beautiful corals but no fish. Jane got some good pictures with her little camera.

As she turned around to go back ashore there was Pretzel, about 20’ offshore, swimming without a life jacket, to get to us. OMG we have never seen her go into the water willingly since she doesn’t like it!! When Jane started walking toward her she turned back to the beach. We were really shocked at the determination that she not be left alone!! Jane put her life jacket on and then went back to the coral reef. Sure enough, Pretzel started swimming out to us again. We greatly under estimate her ability for survival. We all have a few more gray hairs today!!

Later that afternoon we saw a large sea turtle (about 3’ diameter) behind our boat. It was floating, stuck its head out for a few minutes then disappeared!!! Wish we had a picture of it for you but it happened so fast and they are very elusive.
Another front came through Sat-Sun so we spent the entire day on the boat with 20-25k winds, gusting to 30 overnight. Peter slept in the cockpit again while Jane monitored the handheld GPS. Monday dawned a beautiful, still day so Peter decided to take down the wind generator, take it apart, and reinstall a new control board sent to us by the company. This was the first time we prayed for wind, to see if it would work.

That evening we went to volleyball beach to eat, have a few drinks, and watch the opening fun of the Georgetown Cruisers Regatta. This is the 30th anniversary of the regatta but it has morphed into a 10 day celebration of organized activities like volleyball & trivial persuit competitions, dog parades, coconut harvest, conch blowing choir, boat parade, boat races, and an “un-talent” show. All these are organized by a central group of cruisers that spend the winter in Georgetown every year. It seems to be the destination of choice for a lot of people, especially those who live-aboard with children.

Today is Wednesday (March 3) and we sit at the dock in Georgetown again. The weather predictions have been talking about a strong front passing through Tues-Wed. There were gale warnings issued for the Bahamas yesterday so we pulled anchor 9after 2 weeks!) and motored across the harbor to the marina. The front fizzled, so to speak. We had no squalls with thunder & lightening and no major gale force winds at dawn this morning. It is cloudy today with 15k blows but nothing more than we have had all along!! We will take the opportunity to thoroughly wash the boat, do laundry, and get our internet caught up. At least we can get off the boat comfortably. Jane might visit a few of the gift shops here.

Our plan is to leave Georgetown sometime next week when the weather hopefully cooperates. The fronts are suppose to end by now and the prevailing winds turn to the E SE. Stay tuned for the next installment.