Banking

The bank in Hope town is only open from 10-2 on Tuesdays.  We got  there early to get some cash.  We were first in line and when the bank opened we went inside only to find out that they had no electricity therefor no cash- we are in the Bahamas.

 Last year we joined the Royal Marsh Harbor Yacht Club for two years for $180.   It paid for itself last year alone.  The Yacht clubs last event of the year was a giant pot luck, and free beverages. This was held Tuesday and as such we headed the 5.5 miles  to Marsh Harbor and the Abaco Resort and Boat harbor for the party.  Slips are normally  $3.25 per ft per night, for the event the price was $1 per ft.  We had a good time, and were able to go to  the big grocery store for provisions, the bank for cash and to pick up fresh Conch Salad.

Wed. after washing the boat ( water was only 15 cents per gallon), we cruised south to Lynyard Cay and anchored out for the night.  We took the dink to the world famous Pete's Pub at high tide.  This is quite the joint with a world class sculpture gallery.  We had a " Blaster"  cocktail, 5 kinds of rum.  The tag line is "Why walk when you can crawl !"  Back to the boat and another sunset.  At 9 AM Thursday  we cruised back the 15 miles to Hope Town at high tide.  Even at high tide we only had 2.5 ft under the props going by Tahiti Beach. Last night we took the dingy our the cut here into a very calm Sea of Abaco.  In three feet of water we went right over the top of a huge nurse shark at least 9 feet long!

Very Cool.

Hope Town

Today is Wed. March 22nd.

This morning we were treated to a fantastic sunrise!  After breakfast we took the dink into town and I did the grocery shopping while Brigitte got here hair cut.  They have this grocery store called Vernon's,  They make terrific coconut bread. which we are using to make french toast. Vernon owns the store, is the Islands baker, Justice of the Piece and Methodist Minister.

After lunch we took the dingy out and cruised, down to Tahiti Beach and then around Lubbers Quarters and on to Sea Spray Marina for a Kalik.  The water was super clear and you could easily see 18 feet down, lots of turtles and one very large Stingray today.

Hope Town

Checking out Hope Town

On Friday we rented a golf cart with Alison and Rod from Sleeping Beer, and explores the south end of the Island. 

 There are many new vacation rental homes this way along with a couple of great restaurants. Saturday morning when the tide started to come up we headed to Guana Cay.  We explores the Island by Dingy and ended up to doing heavy Apps for dinner. As if was Brigitte's birthday and Carol from Job Site had got a Key Lime Birthday cake.   At 6:30 we headed up to Nippers and the Bare Foot Man concert.  He is the Bahama version of Buffet. We had a great time dancing, listing to music and laughing our heads off.  For old farts,we made to after 10 PM.

Sunday morning we headed back to our mooring ball In Hope Town and have spent the last few days just chill'n! Today is a beautiful, day with light and variable winds, and we are parked at the pool at the resort.  The wind is supposed to start blowing Thursday afternoon through Sat. to 30 knots. Stay tuned!   

Hope Town

Hope Town: We have been in this beautiful harbor well protected from the wind for the past 5 days,  We have enjoyed the pool, walks through town,  lunch over looking the ocean,  and cleaning the boat up a bit.  Last night we were treated to some young kids racing their little boats around a course set up in front of our boat.  They were really cruising with gust to 18 knots.  This morning our cursing buddy's left for Marsh Harbour to pick up their kids who are flying in for a week. Our friends from Legacy on Sleeping Bear will use the ball for 2 nights.  We will all meet back up in Great Guyana Key for Brigitte's birthday and to go to the Bear Foot Man concert at Nippers.  We will report back next week!

Across the Atlantic

On Friday morning we left Spanish Wells and ventured out into the North Atlantic.  We made a heading mostly North to the Abaco's and Little Harbour.  We ran for about 5.5 hours and covered nearly 60 miles.  I fished for the first our as the rollers were only about 3 feet.  As we progressed they were solid 4-5's with the occasional 6 footer, and in came the lines and as we increased speed to better match the tempo of the rollers,  this is big water with a depth of 15,000 ft plus.  Around 12;30 we passed through the cut and into the Sea of Abaco and anchored at Lynyard Cay for the night.  We took the dink out and did some exploring. Brigitte went snorkeling for giant sea biscuits.  Around 10:30 Saturday we  headed up to Tilloo Cay in a squall, about a 12 mile run.  The sun came out and it turned out to be a beautiful day!  At 6 PM we headed to Lubbers Quarters and Cracker P's for a full moon party.

On Sunday mid morning we cruised a whopping 5.5 miles up the Sea of Abaco to one of our favorite places, Hope Town. We are on a mooring ball in Hope Town harbour were we will stay on and off for a month.  More pictures to follow.

More Spanish wells pictures:

Spanish Wells

At 11:00 am we left Governor Harbor and cruised 27.7 miles to the Cove on Eleuthera, this  is about 2 miles south of the glass window I talked about earlier.  Seas were a solid 4 ft on the stern and winds still blowing 20 knots plus.  We anchored for the night in this beautiful cove tucked around from the ocean so we only had to deal with the swell but no waves.  The dinks were lowered and off went to the beach and then a cruise to the looking glass from the sound rather than the ocean side.  In the picture you can see some swells coming through but on the day we traveled there by car the spray was coming over the bridge.  We enjoyed a nice dinner and sunset,  however sleep was a little sparse as the swells rolled us around a bit.

The next morning we left around 7:30 and headed to Spanish Wells,  finally we had calm seas and light winds as we cruised the 11 miles across the bay to a cut that you can go through to the other side of Eleuthra and then on to Spanish Wells. The cut funnels the water through at great velocity and we made sure we were going through with the tide.  Going through the cut we picked up

over 5 miles an hour. We stopped for fuel and then headed in to the Spanish Wells Yacht Basin where we are spending 2 nights.  I beautiful marina and vibrantly colored Island with a busy fishing port. We rented golf carts and drove  over to the Sand Bar for lunch of Cracked Conch Burgers and Hurricanes.  Yes we had an afternoon nap!!!  We also went out to dinner at Ship Wrecks and had Wahoo and Lobster Mac and Cheese.   Today was chore day,  grocery store, laundry, lay by the pool etc.  I  picked up 2.5 pounds of Stone Crab for dinner tonight @ $15 a pound.  Tomorrow we are off to the the Abaco's  we have about 50 miles of open ocean to cross so please wish us calm seas,  the forecast does look favorable.  I will try to drag a fishing line waves permitting as we are in 15,000 ft of water and the fishing is reported extremely good!

Pictures will be added latter.

going home

Home we go!

On Monday, the 20 the of Feb we flew home for Soren’s Birthday.  We had a great time with the kids and saw a few friends.  On Saturday Brigitte hosted here last sample sale with her many great customers!  As of March 1^st, Brigitte is officially retired from Partylite.  After a fantastic, 24-year career, she is hanging up her candles.  Our daughter Jillian has also joined Partylite and will take over where Brigitte left off.

March 2^nd at 5:20 AM we flew back from MN to our home on the boat.  We cleared customs by 12:30 and our Bahamian cab driver was waiting for us at the airport.  We ran into town and re provisioned with fresh fruit and produce and back to the boat.  On Thursday AM after taking on fuel we departed the Marina at Emerald Bay on Grand Exuma Island and ran 90 Miles to Cape Eleuthera Point for a quick night stay.  They had a great pool and restaurant which we were please to use after a hot and rolly ride.

The next morning, we headed 30 miles North to Governors Harbor and re connected with our friends on Job Site and Sum Escape. What a great ride on dead calm seas.  We choose this spot as they had mooring balls in a bay protected from N and NE winds.  The predictions where for winds at 26 knots with higher gust starting on Friday night.  The Balls were at a facility, reported by Active Captain to be a great place to wait out the weather as it was part of a Marriot Resort.  We took a golf cart to the ocean side and enjoyed a fantastic 3-mile-long beach, with pinkish sand, chairs, umbrellas, and cold beer. We capped off the day with cocktails and a nap around the pool.

By Saturday morning it was blowing hard.  After double checking our lines, we rented a car with Tom and Julie in Sum Escape and headed North to explore.  We stopped for fresh eggs and produce at a small farm. Everything was cut from the field to order.  I ask how fresh the eggs were and he merely replied, if they were any fresher they would still be in the chicken

. Next, we went on a hunt for beer and ice cream, guess who had the beer?  We had read about a local bakery that made pineapple tarts! They were more like small pies and fabulous for $1.25. Next, we were off to explore a bridge on the Island called the Looking Glass.  The highway goes over a cut in the rock that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Exuma Sound. They close the road during storms as the waves crash so hard they have washed cars off the road and into the sea.  We checked our tide charts and we were still on a rising tide.  Spray was going over the top of the highway so we made a quick dash across the Bridge and back fearing we could get stuck on the other side for hours or even days.  Our last adventure stop was the Queens Bath, this is an eroded section of the coast that is the most turbulent ocean I have ever seen.  The waves where 20 feet plus, with sheets of water exploding into the air some 50-75 feet high.  The Atlantic today is so rough it is impassable.

  We saw one cruise ship off shore and I am sure 80 % would have been sea sick on board.  On our way back to the boat we stopped at a ocean side bar and resteraunt for lunch.

The next section is part fun with friends, and incredible fear!

We left the boats and headed for dinner at 6:30 PM at the resort.  We loaded Tom and Julie in our dink and Carol and DeVere brought their Daughter and Son in Law with them as they had arrived late the day before for a week’s stay. We tied the dinks up and climbed up the 6-foot ladder on the dingy dock and off to the restaurant.  We had fantastic food, a few cocktails, and lots of laughs.  They had a 3-piece band playing smooth jazz that was delightful.  At about 9ish we got back on the dinks in the dark and 25 Knot winds and headed back to the boats.  All was going well until DeVere and Carols boat was missing from the mooring field.  After a brief search, we realized what had happened and saw his anchor light bobbing way off in the distance! The mooring ball had come loose and the boat was floating out to sea. I got Tom and Julie to his boat and DeVere dropped Carol and his kids on our boat.  There was a brief discussion as to the feasibility of going after Job Site with the dingy, all agreed way to dangerous. This was the real deal and everyone was scared shitless! The Coast Card was hailed on the radio and they connected Tom and DeVere to the Bahamian National Defense.  Because of the severe night weather conditions and since only their dog Molly was on the boat, and no threat to human life they declined to assist.  Tom called the resort and they contacted 2 locals who launched a center console twin engine fishing boat and picked up DeVere.   Both Tom and I where tracking DeVere’s boat on radar, and by now the boat  was 4 miles out to sea. We are all praying for a good out come!!

DeVere is probably the bravest and most un-shakable men I have ever met.  Somehow, in 6-foot pitching seas and his boat rolling badly he managed to get on the boat and start it up and head back to our anchorage.  Our prayers and those of yours on face book where answered THANK YOU LORD.

Our next step was for me to get Tom on to DeVere’ boat with the dink so he could grab the mooring ball and tied up to the boat.  DeVere then shuttled people back and forth to their respective boats. At approximately 11 PM with the winds still ragging at 25 knots or more, everyone is safe and sound. We learned many lessons tonight.

Job Site had no exterior damage, and only a broken mirror and the contents of the fridge and many cupboards deposited on the floor.  We set our anchor alarm and went to bed. Needless to say, we checked on the boat many times during the night!  God Bless!!!  Today winds picked up again and we had peak gusts to 38 Knots.  We spent today cleaning, reflecting, praying and sleeping. Tomorrow’s winds are predicted to come down a bit and hopefully by Wed. we can resume our journey.  Keep us in your prayers

Today is Tuesday morning,  and as Paul Harvey would say "and now the rest of the story".  while having a glass of wine on the fly bridge and watching the sunset, I noticed we where broadside in the wind and our mooring ball lay slack next to us.  Our mooring failed.  I pulled it on board while Brigitte started the engines.  We called the resort and and then proceeded to the Mega Yacht dock and we tied all three boats up for the night.  They comped us dinner and drinks and all is well.  I am about to negotiate what our 4 night stay here will cost.  I believe we are out of here and head to an anchorage 25 miles up the coast.  Wind or no wind I trust my anchor!!  We should be in Spanish Wells Wed.  cheers