2007 - 8/12 - 8/16 - from home to Lubbers Quarter Cay

HO HUM...just another cruise

August 12th To 16th  Left the house at 10:00, cruised all day and anchored at Rodriquez Key. The weather was perfect to cross on the 13th – we left at 7:00 and arrived at Honeymoon Harbor, Gun Cay about 4:30. This area has sure changed since we were here in 2001; the beach area were we were then, is now covered at high tide but shallow enough to enjoy. There were about 8 small boats anchored there from Bimini but just for the day. We were too lazy to take the dinghy off so we put the girls on the float and swam to shore. We were greeted by a multitude of rays! The other boaters told us they’re ‘friendly’ (right!) & people feed them – I hopped a ride back to BLUE MAX to get our snorkeling stuff & camera. WOW, what a sight to see all those rays close up – the new underwater camera did well, I think. I took pictures of Wayne and the girls swimming…and a few of the boat. Did I say this was Wayne’s camera?? On the 14th we crossed the Banks and encountered storms all around us; the seas got rough with swells on our port stern…

Would this be enough to scare the hell out of  you?

kind of an icky day.  We battened down, turned on the air-conditioning and waited for the worst, which fortunately didn’t come, just some rain. We anchored about 6:30 between Great Stirrup and Little Stirrup Cays in the Berry Islands. One is owned by NCL cruise line and the other by Royal Caribbean. They are set up for the passengers to have a fun day at the beach. We've been to each of these islands on various cruises. 
We’re almost to our dream cottage but we don’t have phone or email access to contact Austin and Amy to let them know how close we are. We left the Stirrups at 7:30 am.  
I have to be honest, the type of cruise we're now doing is not all it's cracked up to be – they’re certainly not romantic. They’re boring and fatiguing but there’s nothing like being in the middle of the ocean, at night, with no lights, noise or other people. You take a glass of wine and go on deck to see the most magnificent show you’ll ever see – trillions of stars, the milky way in all it’s glory, shooting stars everywhere and you can clearly see some planets and satellites. I wish I could capture it with my camera to share with you. We do find plenty of things to do; I clean, download and name the pictures, write the log, Wayne is usually on the bridge reading a manual or a magazine.  The girls stay on the fly bridge unless they hear me in the galley or when it’s close to 5 pm when it’s their dinner time – we rarely check the time, but I always know when it's 5 pm cuz they let us know loud and clear that it's time to eat. I prefer to cruise 8-9 hours, anchor down, make a nice dinner, watch a movie, turn in about 10. I'm not comfortable to keep pushing it for 12 hours or more and be so exhausted that you’re not even hungry. At 1:00, we cruised around the southern most tip of Great Abaco called "Hole in the Wall".  I wondered why it

Hole in the Wall (see it on the right?)

 got its’ name – see for yourself. A beautiful spot that neither of us has ever seen with a non-functioning lighthouse, and cozy little cottages. We’re now headed north up the coast of Great Abaco. We arrived at Little Bay at Cherokee Point at 5:00 at the same time the girls were bugging us to feed them. We anchored in a small cove protected from the wind but had a surge so we rocked a bit – but great for sleeping. Another beautiful spot.  If all goes well, we’ll be at Lubbers tomorrow.
We arrived at Lubbers on the 16th. It was easy to spot Sea Level from the pictures I’d seen on their web site. We arrived about 1pm but since we didn’t get a response by calling them on the VHF, we didn’t know if we should go ashore to find Austin & Amy or wait to hear from them. I wanted to go – Wayne wanted to wait. So, wait we did.

Sea Level Cottages on Lubber's Quarter Cay

In a few hours a very fast speedboat came flying towards us. Finally we meet. This picture only shows the Dolphin house and part of the boats and dock. You can only see part of the Big House on the left, the Garden Cottage is behind and up from the Dolphin house obscured by the forest of trees and bushes.

2007 - 7/5 - 8/12 - Summerland Key

July 5th  We went to the grocery store in New Plymouth for a few things, packed up and headed for that beautiful anchorage on the east side of Allen’s/Pensacola.  We had time to swim, snorkel and visit the beautiful beach again. 
July 6th - 8th  No sense boring everyone with day-to-day cruising. At 0600 on the 8th, we left the West End and arrived in Lake Worth about 3 pm. We anchored in Lantana. 
We were looking forward to docking on the New River in Ft. Lauderdale, but Wayne suggested Bahia Mar, a very upscale marina on the intercoastal, across from the beach with many amenities including a pool. WOW- don’t have to twist my arm. We docked on the 10th.  Wayne had several things he wanted to get for the boat and Lauderdale is the perfect place to do it.  The boat was encrusted with salt – I could have scraped it off & put it into my salt grinder! As we were tying up, a man walked up the dock and asked if we could use help washing down the boat.  His name was Jerry, from Jamaica – we ‘hired’ him. He set out right away cleaning from top to bottom.  This gave us some free time to go to the pool and relax. The boat was immaculate!  We discovered that Jerry was a man of many talents and didn’t waste a minute of the day – we asked him to return the next day to do more work.  He waxed, buffed and even took the teak down on the grab rails-something we both put off doing as it was a difficult job. He worked the entire time we were there. We met a nice couple, Marvin and Rita from Palm Beach aboard the NAUGHTY RITA, a Sea Ray- It was always easy to remember her name.  We hung out with them most of the week- took a ride on their boat and they had a van and took us to West Marine- Marvin had a extra special discount card-we went a bit nuts! We had lunch and dinner, went to the pool, and to Sailor Man- I even got to spend time at the beach - very nice week but after 4 days, I was ready to move on.  We decided to stay just one more day so Bob and Stephanie could join us. We spent most of Saturday at the pool and had a wonderful, informal dinner outside at the restaurant next door.  We ended the night about 11 pm. 
July 15th to 17th- We left Bahia Mar at 10:45 and stayed ‘outside’ then went inside to Biscayne Bay. We slowly went thru Caesar’s Cut and anchored on the outside. The weather was favorable so we continued south on the outside and anchored on the North side of Rodriquez Key in Key Largo on the 16th .  I really dreaded having to go home – I didn’t want the vacation to end and I didn’t have to go back to work until the 23rd. I did that 'woman' thing - begged and pleaded not to go home just yet…I won. At 5:00 pm on the 17th we anchored at Molasses Key, which is in the middle of the 7-mile bridge- ocean side (are you going to ask how long the 7 mile bridge is?) We anchored here the first weekend we spent together back in April 1999 – very romantic and brought back lots of good memories. We met more nice people there – Jan and Don - who were camping at Bahia Honda. We exchanged emails and said we’d catch up with them if we stopped at Bahia Honda on our way home.
I forgot to mention, our water maker pump stopped working while in the Bahamas so we’ve been extra frugal and had to buy water on the way. So on the 18th we cruised back to Burdines’s in Marathon to fill up.($5.00) Had to have have lunch cuz they have GREAT burgers. We anchored that night at Bahia Honda.
Since back in the States, I'd been reviewing a real estate brochure from HG Christies and found beach property on Long Island Cay (not New York).  I emailed the broker and in the course of conversation, found a tiny cottage on Lubbers Quarter, Abaco Islands. This really appealed to me because I had been to this Cay over 15 years ago while vacationing on Elbow Cay (Hope Town) It turns out that the owners of Sea Level, Austin and Amy, are selling 3 of the 4 cottages because they are beginning another project north of Sea Level – another grouping of rental cottages. The one we liked is called the Garden Cottage; tiny, about 400 sq. ft, sits up on a hill and 150’ to the beach. We spoke to Austin who answered many of our initial questions; has electric from Bahama’s Electric; 6000 gallon cistern, no TV or phone and a deeded dock – just to our liking.  Lubbers is a small island SE of Marsh Harbor and SW of Elbow Cay and great cruising grounds - just 72 miles from Nassau.  We decided we had to return as soon as possible to see it for ourselves.
We arrived home on Friday, 20th and moored in Niles Channel. We took Joan and Richard to dinner at the Sugarloaf lodge – We were served wonderful rum drinks at the Tiki bar made by our friend, Nancy.
I returned to work on the 23rd, it was pure torture from the 40 minute ride to KW to having to sit for hours.  I worked all week but found I was unable to work comfortably more than 3 hours. I left early every day.  I got my 2nd epidural injection on Thursday but was unsuccessful in quelling the pain.
Mickey and Katherine arrived on Friday and other than a washout on Saturday, we had a wonderful time. Mickey caught a 10+ lb Tuna, which he prepared for a luscious dinner on Sunday.
Wayne returned with them to Ft Myers on Monday – I went to work in misery.  I saw my doctor, explained the situation… he took me off work indefinitely!  Before I told my boss the bad news, I finished all the end of the month work that had to be done because there is no one else who knows how to do my job. It was tough telling her – I felt badly but not as bad as it was for me to continue to suffer. I spent 40 years working – what do I do now? What a weird feeling…
I researched cameras and ordered two; one for me that has many special features and 100x Zoom and one for Wayne that can go to 10’ underwater, unfazed if dropped from 5 ft. and fits in your pocket.
I explored flights over to Marsh Harbor – most were expensive even from Miami/Ft Lauderdale. But did find good fares on Chalk’s - $270 round trip. I was just going to confirm a flight when Wayne called and suggested we take BLUE MAX back over! Makes sense, comfortable, can take the girls…OK-let’s do it.  
Wayne arrived home by ferry on Thursday. The girls and I met him at the pier then onward to Dante’s to swim and have drinks with Tom and Susan.  I felt so decadent spending an entire afternoon doing absolutely nothing on a workday!
Wayne had lots to do to get the boat ready to go including replacing and installing a new water maker pump. Then the swim ladder broke and one of the Bose speakers went on the fritz but both have lifetime guarantees and were replaced by West Marine without a problem.
We were busy getting the boat ready for the next 2 weeks. It was record breaking HOT so doing anything was difficult. True dog days of summer. We were also in touch with Austin about the Garden cottage and told him our plans to come over by boat. The tides were high enough to leave our canal from the August 8th thru the 15th.

2007 - 7/3 - 7/4 - Fiddle Cay - Stranded Naked Beach Bash

July 3rd: Left the anchorage outside New Plymouth and cruised the short distance North to Fiddle Cay. It was overcast and ugly.We hung out on the boat for a while waiting for it to clear a bit but boats were arriving by the dozens. We gathered our stuff and the pups and took the dinghy to shore. The tide was low exposing a huge beach area. Hundreds of boats and people were already eating & and drinking. Somehow in this mob we found Tom   & Laurel - they explained the lay of the land. Burgers, Hot Dogs and fries were being grilled...picnic benches scattered under the shade of the tall trees; They took us to the most important spot – the adult drink bar with Tequila & Rum – all FREE.  We let the dogs loose and they had a ball. This little girl loved Scupper & carried her all over. (check out Scupper's face) They made friends with everyone who, of course, could not the resist their
begging tactics & gave them tid-bits of
whatever they were eating.

Wayne, Laurel, Winnie & Tom

The rain cleared, but still overcast which actually made it a perfect day; what an amazing day with so many really great people and in the middle of no where too!! A few “Parrot Heads” as well (it's a Jimmy Buffet thing)

                                 True Parrothead
July 4th - From this point on, I have no pictures to insert. During the beach party, the camera was placed inside the dinghy for safekeeping. Unfortunately, we didn’t know it was wet – the camera was trashed, in fact, I didn’t know if any of the pictures from the party would survive on the card until I got another camera and downloaded the pictures.  
From the U.S. Independence day to the Bahamas Independence Day on the 10th, there are sailboat races, which start at Green Turtle. Today is the first race, then a party; then a “lay day” when all the boats head for Man O' War Cay for the next race on the 6th, then a party; then a lay day and the boats head for Elbow Cay (Hope Town) for the next race on the 8th, then another party and another lay day and onward to Marsh Harbor for the final race and party on the 10th. Since I still didn’t know if I had to return to work on the 16th or the 23rd, we only stayed for the first race. We wanted to crew for Tom and Laurel, but decided not to chance it because of my darn back problem. We anchored off New Plymouth and watched with binoculars. Not quite the fun as being part of everything. We met everyone at the town dock for the party and free rum punches.  I hopped a ride on a golf cart in search for the ‘world famous’ conch fritters and found them being cooked, fresh by the churchwomen. They where raising money to build a church.  I couldn’t tell you how many I had but they only cost $5.00 and they were indeed, world famous!
Tom and Laurel came in 2nd and received a beautiful plaque, engraved, with a little bronze green turtle on it. We said our goodbyes as we were starting our journey back to the states and they were heading south for the races and parities. We had a tough time deciding which way we wanted to go and finally opted to return the way we came and to spend some time on the inter-coastal north of Lauderdale. I had never cruised that area before.
P.S. Scupper went into ‘heat’ today – what woman must suffer!
.

2007 - 6/26 - 6/28 - New Plymouth - Man O' War

Tuesday, June 26; New Plymouth. We were on the fly bridge reading; Wayne is reading Soldat, a story about WWII and I’m reading Split Second by David Baldacci and Laurel came by to return the flashlight.  After chatting awhile, we decided to go to town and see Black Sound where her boat is moored. We tied the dinghy up at a place called Pineapples an outside bar, restaurant with a salt-water pool.

Pineapples bar & pool

We never did leave Pineapples.  We were able to walk back to see Black Harbor so it wasn’t a total wasted trip. The girls had great fun with the other people there as we did. We invited Laurel to join us to cruise south until Tom returned from the States.Wednesday, June 27; Wayne and Laurel picked up salad fixins, bread, butter and oil for the boat and we were off.  We listened to the cruiser’s net on channel 68 and the weather forecast was dismal calling for 100% rain and squalls. So when did that ever stop us? We pulled anchor and headed south. The bay was choppy but then we had to cross Whale Cay passage they say can be very dangerous because it takes you out to the Atlantic side.We had rough seas, maybe 5 footers but Blue Max did well as usual.  We opted not to go to Treasure Cay (way too uppity) or Great Guiana but chose to stay at Man Of War. It seemed like a interesting Cay and very protected. We entered the southwest side of the Cay on the lee side and meandered around the many anchored and moored boats. I told Wayne

Cottage on Man O' War harbor

that I would consider selling the cottage for one like this...it's probably a boat house but just our speed!  The harbor was way to tight for us to fit in so we anchored outside the north entrance to the harbor and plan to go ashore in the morning.  Happy hour followed by meat loaf, mashed potatoes and the movie, First Wives Club. Laurel fell asleep in the middle of the movie.
Thursday, June 28; Stormy, rain all morning. Shame, we planned to go ashore today. Plan B; I worked on the log and the pictures, Wayne and Laurel were deeply involved in their respective books, the girls snuggled in their beds.  It finally cleared somewhat so we donned our rain gear and went ashore. This is a dry town (not today) meaning you cannot buy liquor or cigarettes; restaurants don’t serve alcohol nor is there a bar in town, but the town is quaint as hell. Wandered a bit, got a few things at the grocery.

More bread from Lila, the 'bread lady' on Man O' War

We were told Lila, the bread lady, was delivering her bread via golf cart and if you wanted any, you had to find her. A woman with a golf cart gave us a ride to track her down. Laurel bought a loaf of bread and cinnamon buns for breakfast.  It was all we could do to resist eating them immediately. This is a working town. All petroleum products and services, including mechanical, refrigeration and cosmetic repairs, prop changes, underwater work and repairs and a fleet of water taxis with scheduled service to Marsh Harbor/Hope Town. Boats are built at several yards; some have been winners for the annual Family Islands Regatta. Interestingly, one of the most illustrious sailing vessels built here is the 70-foot topsail schooner William H. Albury. She represented the Bahamas in the Tall Ships Race and Operation Sail in 1976. The marina owners are planning to build 23 upscale, turnkey Villas, ($595,000/$695,000) 4 hotel suites, restaurant, upgraded marina and pool on their site. The renderings of the resort are nice but what a shame to screw up one of the most peaceful harbor/settlement in the Bahamas. It was late in the afternoon and soon everything will shut down.  The ‘blacks’ (hey, not my term-that's what the locals call them) were already heading for home on the water taxis. It was still drizzling which made exploring a bit tough and we’re glad we didn’t bring the dogs. I needed garlic for my pasta dinner so we headed to the grocery before they closed at 5:30. A little salad, pasta, Italian sausage and wine for dinner. Watched The Mask of Zorro with sexy Antonio Bandaras and the beautiful Katherine Zeta Jones. Laurel fell asleep again.

2007 - 6/23 - 6/25 - Green Turtle / New Plymouth

Saturday, June 23 to 25th; We arrived at Green Turtle Cay located in White Sound on the north side of Green Turtle Cay and decided to take a dock. Traveling thru the harbor you notice much newer construction but still keeping the ambiance of the area. It’s an older resort but rather upscale for us but what the heck…we are on vacation and we deserve a bit of luxury now and then. Very pleasant and clean resort with a beach and a fresh water pool. Tonight is their first buffet of the ‘season’ held on the beach with a band and bonfire - we signed up. Good food and lots of fun. We lounged around the

pool on Sunday. Since I didn’t want to spend the equivalent of a weeks’ pay for dinner at their restaurant, we grabbed a really great cheeseburger at the pool-now that’s extravagance!

Memorial Garden

We left the ‘club’ around noon and traveled a short distance to the south end of Green Turtle to the town of New Plymouth. A wonderfully quaint town with small, clean, well maintained streets and wonderful ‘conch’- looking cottages.   This is the sister city to Key West and after visiting the Loyalist Memorial Garden, I see where KW got the idea of

our new memorial garden at Mallory Square. In addition, the names of the residents and founding fathers are the same as our KW old time Conchs – Curry, Lowe, Roberts, Albury, Pinder, Sawyer. We met a couple who suggested we might enjoy a visit to Miss Emily’s, the home of the original Goombay Smash.

W&W & the girls @ Miss Emily's

We figured it was 5 o'clock somewhere…By the way, the drink was fabulous - we had several. There was a group of people from Naples we could tell had been there for sometime. One of the women looked so

Kashmir & Wayne @ Miss Emily's (I love this picture)

familiar to me but I couldn't place her. After chatting a bit, turns out she was one of my supervisors at Naples Community in 1984 - Nancy Hone (now Thompson) We remembered each other but boy do we look different now. What a small world.  We also met Laurel who is on a 38'

Miss Emily's beautiful daughter

sailboat moored in Black Sound. She lives in Green Cove Springs (St John’s River) with Tom who owns a marina there. Tom had to fly back on business so she was alone for a few days.

Laurel & Winnie

We invited her back to the boat. We had more drinks - I threw together a quick fish dinner. We gave Laurel a flash light so she could dinghy back in the darkness. A very pleasant evening.

2007 - 6/19 - 6/22 - Carters; Allen-Pensecola; Nunjack Cays

Tuesday, June 19;           
 We disconnected the power cords - eliminating the only luxury on Rosie’s dock - air conditioning. We set sail for another days’ adventure on the high seas. Winds calm, sun shining, perfect temperature - actually, a bit on the cool side under the new & insulated hard top.  Haven’t a clue where we’d like to go; Strangers? Carters? Fox Town?  Decided on Carter’s where there is an abandoned missile tracking station. We traveled south of Double Breasted then Wayne got that 'adventure thing' going again. Instead we headed north between Rhoda Rocks and Strangers Cay Rocks.  Now we were traveling E SE between Strangers Cay and the barrier reef.  Time to cut bait or fish mates! I hooked a few pain in the ass

Yellowtail for dinner

Barracuda, something large in the Jack family, and several, really nice Yellowtail for dinner.  Wandered into Carter’s and of course came in different than the charts suggest.  Wayne said he’s going to write his own charts.  There were 4 locals’ boats moored there but unmanned.  A good stop over but no reason to go ashore.  
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20; another beautiful day.  Following the charts, Wayne exited Carter’s anchorage straight into the shallows and we went aground - fortunately for us it was just sand. Happy no one was around as it is sooooo embarrassing. The water is so clear that a depth of 10’ looks like you’re in 3’ of water. Wayne took the dinghy to sound out the area while I coaxed the boat in forward – reverse – forward – reverse - turned the wheel until she finally floated free.  Wayne found enough water to get us outa there. We anchored outside Fox Town on Little Abaco but for some reason, we didn’t feel comfortable and had no desire to go ashore. We pulled anchor and headed for Allen’s/Pensacola.These used to be separate islands until a storm joined them together. Initially, we anchored by Allen Rocks on the west side but it had little to no protection from W SW winds that we were having. It was too late in the day to move so we stayed the night. Who would want to leave anyway ????
Thursday, June 21;  One chart shows scattered coral heads, decent depth and two anchorages on the east side of Allen's/Pensacola, the other chart shows “unsurveyed” with no anchorages. Hell, what’s the worst that can happen?? We moved to the East side and discovered paradise! We’ve each been to many beaches, but we both agreed that this was the nicest beach we’ve ever encountered.  The sand felt like finely sifted flour, the water was clear as Vodka; No rocks, no obstructions, just sandy beach as far as you could see with Australian pines for shade. The camera couldn’t capture the beauty. It doesn’t get much better than this. There were some thunder boomers and thick clouds north of us, but never stormed by us. We vegged, we almost decided to stay here for the remainder of the trip but reality kicked in - after all, we did come all this way to see as much of the Abacos as we could.  Happy hour, dinner and a movie but it was hard to stay inside when there were a zillion stars out there calling to us.  Wayne was in his lounge chair on the fly bridge, and everything was right with the world.
Friday, June 22;  The weather is still pretty perfect- no rain, scattered clouds, gentle breezes. The winds seem to be clocking around a bit.  We’re only able to get bits & pieces of the weather- some sort of disturbance in north FL.? We headed south past Spanish, Powell & Ambergris Cays trolling all the way but no luck this time. Once again, we anchored on the east and “unsurveyed” side of Nunjack (some say

Nunjack Cay

Manjack) – way more coral heads but the water depth about 20’ or 5-6 meters. (new charts are in meters now) Remember I said it couldn’t get much better?? Ummm, I was wrong. WOW!! What a spot.
We explored while the girls played and swam and got full of sand again. As you can see by the   pictures, the weather was perfect, seas dead calm, wispy, cool breezes . Another lazy day in paradise. After dark, the water was full of those sea animals that float on top that makes the water looks like its full of glittering diamonds. Usually you need to swish something in the water to make them glisten, but tonight, the water sparkled as far as you could see.  The moon was bright and will be full in a few days.

2007 - June - Grand Cay, Bahamas

Monday, June 18;  Onward! to Grand Cay which is NW of us and just south of Walkers.  We learned that Walkers is totally shut down as a result of multiple storms and the original owner died and the heirs are bickering over what to do with the property (I’ll take it!).  We docked at Rosie’s. Rosie has a hand in everything in town- grocery, fuel, restaurant & now building guest rooms on the waterfront. Rosie is a guy – a huge guy- but a real sweetie.  We wandered around - I stopped frequently to meet the people and take pictures.
This is Angel & Blake; Jason & his kids, Brenae, Legine,

Angel & Blake

Brenyelle; & Devenie to name a few.  There was a Baptist & Pentecostal church, a cemetery, 2 grocery stores, a (new) pizza place, school, government building that housed police, court room & post office & a Batelco tower of course. A new medical clinic is being built- they have a male nurse who I didn’t meet but did meet Dolly, the Med Tech

Dolly, Winnie & Corine

(on my right in the picture below) & Corine; The pretty lady with great smile is Inez, she works at Rosie’s Grocery store where I met so many people.  We had dinner at Rosie’s –

Inez

cracked Conch, Turtle steak & lobster tail.  Adjourned to the bar area where I watched 4 guys play the fastest game of dominoes I've ever seen.  They taught me how to play for money.  

2007 - 6/12 - 6/16 - Double Breasted Cay, Bahamas

Left West End about 11:00 on Tuesday, June 12- after filling out a zillion papers, all of which was a bunch of bullshit and repetitive information.  This is 2007 for heavens sake and we’re completing forms in duplicate! We had Internet while here. With the Bahamian flag flying we left the dock and head for Sale Cay-about 40 miles east.  A bit of Southerly wind, and a bit on the cloudy side, but, never the less, another perfect day.  No pain in my left butt but starting to feel low back pain again but nowhere near the level as before.
Anchor down at 5:20 at Great Sale Cay, a low, flat, marshy & scrubby Cay but a good stop over provides good shelter in winds from W-SW. Hearty salad & Conch fritters for dinner.  Wayne, on the fly bridge, in his recliner – me, I watched Sleepy Hollow starring the incomparable, Johnny Depp.  Lightening in the E-NE but the stars were shining brightly over the boat.  Thunderstorms sometime during the night with wind gusts and choppy seas.
Wednesday, June 13 - overcast, intermittent sun, wispy wind but no rain.  Lazy morning.  Wayne slept in as he was up & down all night worried about the anchor even though the anchor alarm was on.  The girls & I slept like the dead! I made the coffee this morning but not as good as Wayne’s brew (shush, don’t tell him I said so).  
Wayne was intent on connecting the new hard top with the bonding on the boat to make it be safer in a lightening storm.  I just wanted off the boat. I took snorkel gear & the girls to shore.  Uninhabited and shabby island not much to see.  We wandered around a bit and it was good to stretch our legs -all 10 of them.  The girls ran and; ran, got full of sand then wanted to rub

Molly

all over me… Wayne managed to finish his project; we moved the boat a bit closer to the ‘crotch’ of the island then took the dinghy to another, nicer beach on the north tip of the island. Relaxing day.  Nothing exciting to photograph.

Been dying for a cheeseburger hoagie (burger w/tomato, lettuce, onions, mayo)– Wayne, fire up the grill!
We played full game of Scrabble – Wayne made a noble effort of keeping up with me -but I still left with the winner’s trophy. Visions of Captain Ron danced in my head as I dozed off…

Thursday, June 14  - Ah...the dawn of another beautiful day  (as Martin Short said in Captain Ron) – or so we thought until we woke up enough to realize that we were inundated by mosquitoes! Anchor up as fast as possible and headed north. After swooshing out most of the nasty bloodsuckers, we had to make a decision - where to go next?…Walker’s, Grand Cay, Double Breasted, or go a bit south to Stranger’s or Carter’s Cay.  Give you one guess which one appealed the most to Wayne?? Double Breasted...here we come. Very, very tricky entrance to the anchorage, the tide was going out - almost at an ebb but the midday sun made it easier to do visual water readings…the girls were also on watch. Such a beautiful spot - difficult to capture the whole host of blues and color of the sand. We set 2 anchors as there are strong currents at tide change and not much swing room.

Anchorage seen from top of our hard top

Low tide exposed many sand bars so we were able to explore a large area on foot.  The sand is almost pure white, soft and deep and was like walking in quick sand- that’s if anyone survives from walking in quick sand – some places we sunk up to our knees.  Great exercise for the whole body, which is something I sorely need after working in an office for almost 12 years! Yeah, yeah, I’ll exercise tomorrow; I floated in the channels between the sandbars back to the dinghy. The dogs were full of sand – they rolled, they dug holes, they ran after the seagulls, they swam –and me without my camera. They’re gonna sleep good tonight. Returned to the boat for a rest – yes, a rest, we worked hard today. 

About 4:00, Wayne decided he wanted to put the teak handholds up under the hard top – now? You’re going to start a new project now? Normally I wouldn’t care, but these projects always require my help too. We managed to get one installed – looks great – let’s rest.

Cap't Wayne blowing sunset horn

Beautiful sunset. Boaters usually celebrate sunset by blowing conch shells – Wayne uses a ‘fake’ conch shell almost sounds the same. It was his dads and he called it an Italian bugle.
Salad, fresh Mahi, (that’s Dolphin - not Flipper), leftover cracked conch (yum) and rice for dinner.  I fried up a few bananas (from home) with brown sugar, French cream and Chombord – WOW!
Movie time; we watched,” Are we there yet?” cute, funny family movie.
Opening and closing hatches all night as rainstorms passed through – again.
Friday, June 15; overcast; threatening to rain, heavy clouds all around us. Not a pretty day. We were going to dinghy over to Grand Cay but decided to wait for better weather. Didn’t do much of anything but managed to install both the handholds under the hard top. I was the lucky one to be perched on top of the hard top (about 16’ above the water line). I carted my camera along and took pictures - awesome views.
It cleared up - the sun came out late in the afternoon. Unsuccessful attempts to get bait fish so we went to the ‘spa’.  Everyone calls it that, but no one knows why. I was hoping for warm, swirling water and a 25-year-old muscled blond guy to give me a full body massage. (in my dreams!) I made Stroganoff for dinner.  I never had this until a few months ago and now I’m hooked.  Watched – “Bad Boys II”.  Will Smith and Martin Lawrence they always give you a good show. Big time thunder, lightening and heavy rain all night.
Saturday, June 16; Heavy rain, no clearing in sight. No reason to get up from my warm, toasty, cozy bed so the girls and I stayed in till 10:00!  I had to literally push the dogs out on deck and close the door so they would ‘go’.  Weird – they swim all day, get full of sand and all of a sudden they don’t want to get their feet wet from the rain– go figure!

 

Lazy, lazy day; I worked on the log, started my home study course for Case Management credits, Wayne read magazines. He had been playing with organizing a maintenance log or something that would document repairs, additions, changes, upgrades, preventative maintenance etc.  He asked for my help – gladly. About 3:00 pm we emerged from the forward cabin to find the rain finally stopped, the sun was out and turned into a gorgeous day. Packed up the beach chairs,umbrella, Molly, Scupper & headed for the beach.

Another perfect day at the beach

I’m reading “The Perfect Storm”. If you saw the movie you figure that I have to be really nuts to read a story about a fishing trawler that looks somewhat like Blue Max with stabilizers (Paravanes and birds) like we have; who get caught in the convergence of 3 freak storms and never to be heard from again. The book is a real page-turner.

2007 - 6/11 - The Crossing

Haulover Cut - Good bye USA

Monday, June 11;  No wind, no chop, sun’s just coming up– Couldn’t ask for a better day to cross.  So maybe the Dolphin legend must be true.  We were out through Haulover pass by 7:00 am. Only a wisp of wind…the sea looked like a lake. Gorgeous day – a perfect day! 

I got my fishing poles and gear ready; put on the fighting belt. I’m ready for the big one…  The first strike was so-so but still exiting but also disappointing when we saw it was a very big and ugly barracuda! Line back in the water.  I waited, I paced, I played with the dogs, I checked the lures, checked the lines – nothing, nada. I putted around in the cabin, had a few snacks, drink of water, bathroom, I’m down in the forward cabin, stripped, ready to don my bathing suit when Wayne screams, “FISH ON”!  He puts the boat in neutral; I fly up and out on deck.  The dogs are under foot, barking their heads off, I’m topless, Wayne is asking what to do and I’m just trying to hold on to the pole for dear life. This was a big guy.  I’m reeling and reeling - something’s wrong- it’s not reeling in the line.  Great- just great! What a crappy time for the reel to screw up. Wayne came to the rescue –the line was tangled at the tip of the rod.  OK, now I got him … He jumped at least 5 times-(the fish, not Wayne) what a sight!… the boat was in neutral and the fish, not Wayne, started to go under the boat; Wayne quickly put the boat in slow forward speed in order to tire him out.

Dolphin catch - 49", 24" girth

You're gonna get fish breath - UGH !!

  We were finally able to gaff him and get him aboard. Molly did a ‘ho hum’ and acted like she sees huge fish on the deck every day – Scupper was curious but also afraid and skittish. They were both in the way and under foot and still barking. The Dolphin was flailing all around nearly hitting the girls with his big tail – blood is spattering everywhere and Wayne is trying to ask over the din if we can continue.  He was big bull, (the Dolphin, not Wayne) 49”from nose to tip of tail, 24” girth – we estimated him to be 25-30 pounds. Again, I’m cleaning!  Had to clean him on the deck as there is no other place big enough. Huge fillets enough for about 12 meals.  Problem is, the freezer’s full now and I can’t fish for a while.
Arrived at Old Bahama Bay resort & Yacht Harbor at the West End of Grand Bahama at 5:00 pm. Q-flag up. Customs closed. Let’s do happy hour and eat out as a special treat… Ahhh…The end to a perfect first day.

West End - Grand Bahama

 

2007 - 6/8 - 6/10 - Finally! On our way

The next morning I tentatively shifted around in bed, I sat up, I moved my hips  - virtually no back pain – no pain down my left butt!! (I love the god named Dr. Fulcher) the first epidural seems to have been successful.  It’s the first time in many, many months that I haven’t had pain.  Boy did I feel GREAT. OK, now I’m really ready to go.

Reluctantly I agreed to go food shopping while Wayne finished the installation and wiring of the TV satellite dome, the GPS and the overhead lights. They’re not ‘hot’ yet, but at least the tricky wiring in the hard top is done. I spent $194 and he said, “that’s only enough for a week – I need more snacks”! Right, next time you go…
The boat was trashed with slivers of welding material, wires, tools, food, hatches open but we were outa there at 1:20 pm with the high tide.  Anchor down at 4 pm at Long Key, a bit early, but we wanted time to clean up, make dinner and REST.  

Friday, June 8, 10:30, Anchor up - headed for the Bay side; winds were 10-15 knots but that didn’t stop us or keep the Dolphin from swimming along with us.  It’s good luck, you know.
3:30 - Under the Jew Fish Creek Bridge; 4:30 pm under the Card Sound Rd. bridge (we’re flyin now!); 6:00 pm a heavy-duty rain storm arrived just as we were maneuvering thru Buttonwood sound. Poor Wayne always gets the dirty jobs. 6:45 Anchor down at Featherbed shoals in Biscayne Bay.

Saturday, June 9.  We decided to chill a bit and clean up some more. (will this cleaning ever end?)  Wind was still up, the Bay choppy but still lots of boating traffic from Miami.  Anchor up at noon and we decided to go see our friends, Bob & Stephanie, who live just off the inter-coastal near the Haulover cut in N. Miami.  We visited them in May 2006 on our return from Lauderdale after picking up then 8 week old Scupper.  Beer Can island was Scupper’s first experience in the dinghy, on a beach and in the water.  

"Up On The Roof"

Stephanie & Me

Of course Wayne had to take Bob on top of the hard top to show him the lay out. Steph and I chatted about nursing & sipped rum-runners on the fly bridge.
I made a very impromptu fish and rice dinner with wine, of course.  We went to Beer Can island after dark with the 2 black rat dogs and a jug of – more wine. The island was full of locals camping out on the island or boat for the weekend. Everything’s a bit hazy after that but somehow Wayne took Bob & Steph to their condo in the dinghy, a 15 min. ride through a maze of canals; he managed to find his way back to the boat; took a shower on the aft deck and he doesn’t remember any of it!  Well, that’s the end of the rum-runners!
Sunday, June 10 – We thought it would be a treat to shop at Costco.  It’s been years since we shopped there and was still totally overwhelming to us. 

 It seems the 'girls' are ready to go! We're outta here

2007 - May to June - Oh...the agony of preparation - ABACO, Bahamas

Where to begin? For those of you who read our first two “adventure series”, you might remember the ‘gods’ and to never forget Murphy’s Law, which I believe is double true for boaters.  
A plan began to develop in the fall of 2006 when I got notice of the next Case Management conference in June being held in Denver.  We thought it would be neat to take about a month off after the conference, rent a small motor home, gather Molly & Scupper and see the west.  I’ve never been. Research revealed the cost of the motor home and aggravation and cost of getting the dogs out west via airline would be more than we wanted to deal with.
To make a long story shorter, Joanne, my friend, the nurse who works with me, was making her own plans- to spend April in VA making repairs on her home.  She & David also had plans to go out west for several months in July.  Hmmm… calculating the time in between her trips gave us a 6-week opening.  Forget the conference this year – we’re going cruising!  My last day at work would be 5/25 returning 7/9. Joanne would return 5/29, her last day 7/6.
I enlisted help from my friend, Joanie, and former co-worker, agreed to take a LOA from her job in Gainesville so she could work for me. Great friend!! She was due to arrive on 5/20, stay at the cottage and we’d have a week of re-orientation together. Perfect plan you say?? Or so we thought.
In March, I injured my back in the course of moving the contents of my office back into the newly remodeled space.  I just finished with therapy for poor ole aching back & feeling pretty good when this happened.  Exacerbated old symptoms while creating some new ones.  The MRI was not a pretty picture. It’s hell getting old!!

Building the Hard Top

At the same time, Wayne had been researching what it would take to replace our canvas Bimini with a hard top that would allow us to install solar panels and a satellite antenna. He researched online, he went to the boat show, he talked to several companies and finally

Guess who's under the TV dome

decided to have the top done by a young guy at Driftwood Marina in Marathon and the solar installed by Solar Jorge in Big Pine. We moved our stuff into the cottage while the boat was in the yard. If the work had started as planned on 5/7, we would have been packed

Completed Solar & Satellite Antennae

and ready to go by 5/25.  But that would have been too easy. The job was pushed back a week but we had enough ‘wiggle room’ in the plan to allow for this delay and still leave as planned.  The job was going well but then here’s what happened… Steady, gusty winds about 10-25 knots started around the 18th and they never quit for over 2 weeks!  Very, very unusual for this time of year. (the gods) Work on the new top was seriously delayed - welding can’t be done nor can a 9’ X 7’ solid piece of fiberglass be mounted on top of a 20’ tall boat with that much wind.  I was not a happy camper – the clock was ticking… I tried to stay focused; stocked up on our Piasano wine (wine is expensive in the Bahamas but vodka & rum is cheaper than milk), got my nails done, hair cut and started taking Chantix to quit smoking. Joan & Richard arrived as planned on 5/20 but she had to stay at the Sugarloaf Lodge.
My last day (5/25) came and went.  I decided to work instead of pacing around, stressed and frustrated at home. I worked Memorial Day (5/28) and the next 2 days; I got sick on Thursday & Friday from the new medication I was taking for back pain. The boat finally splashed on Friday, 6/1, which meant we could move aboard & Joan could move in to the cottage.  Just a few loose ends to clean up & we can go… We putted around Marathon from 6/2 to 6/7; went shopping; went to the beach; out for dinner, basically pretending we were actually on vacation when in fact, we were still at a dock in a dusty, dirty boat yard.  On 6/5, work comp finally gave the OK for the epidural injection and Dr. Fulcher squeezed me in for the next day. Rained like hell most of the day making the 100-mile round trip even more stressful. I was pretty much out of it for the rest of that day.