Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!
December 27th and we are hear in Point catching up on laundry (5 loads!!). Wow, we have been here in the Bahamas for 3 weeks now and having a blast. Weather has been great, we have managed some really awesome full days of sailing.
We spent a week in Ft. Lauderdale, 2 nights at the marina then 4 in the Middle River. Turned out to be a fabulous anchorage. Close to shopping, laundry, post office, theatre, and even had my hair done.
We than moved on to Miami (South Beach) to wait for the weather window to cross. Certainly enjoying the area, weather and great company but anxious to make our way to the Bahamas.
Our crossing was a little move "exciting" than we thought we were going to get. Leaving around 11am with a forecast of diminishing winds, 10knts N to NE. Not far into our trip we were seeing 15-18 and gusting over 20 at times. The seas were confused and lumpy and we could see the white caps on the horizon. The anticipation of still waiting to be actually in the middle of the stream weighed on us, should we turn around?? Once we were in the gulf stream the swells became 10-12 feet but to our delight it was a comfortable ride as the chopped settled down and we were just left with the swells. We completed the trip into Great Harbour Cay (North Berries) in about 20 hours motor sailing.
Entry into Bahamas was uneventful, other than getting stuck paying an "overtime" charge to customs for coming into dock before they opened. Had we known (or remembered) we would have dropped anchor outside harbour until they opened! Oh well, live and learn.
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| pic of Haven in the middle of the Gulf Stream |
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| pic of Harmonium |
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| Our first Bahamian sunrise of the season |
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Harmonium, Haven and Alpenglow all tucked in after the crossing.
Bullocks Harbour |
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| First beach walk of the year |
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| I was keeping up with the jones's, following Tim off the rocks into Hoffmans Blue Hole |
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| Conch carnage outside Flo's Conch Bar, Little Harbour Cay |
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| The gang inside Flo's Conch Bar |
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| Alpenglow's first Mahi Mahi way to go Tim! |
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| Al giving a filleting course, then we all got to share a fabulous dinner of BBQ'd Mahi |
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| Hoffman's Cay, |
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| Our first lobster! Well OK, not OUR first but it was our spear. Al wasn't in the water and I was chicken so Phil volunteered while I watched and managed to pull this guy out of the water. We missed three others, but it sure is fun trying! Outside Rose Island |
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Beautiful sail from Rose Island (near Nassau) to Highbourne Cay
We never went slower than 6.5 knts and up to 7.4 with only 12-15 knts of wind |
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| Anchorage at Highbourne Cay |
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| Anchorage at Norman's Cay. |
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| Exuma Land and Sea Park. One of our favorite places, |
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One of the cruisers lost their dingy the night before. This is a picture of the return after the park warden boats were able to locate it later in the day. (being towed back because they also ran out of fuel)
lesson of the day -Always tie 2 lines from boat to dingy
STANIEL CAY |
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I'm so lucky to have made such good friends on this adventure of ours.
Lovely ladies. -Krista (Harmonium) Susan (Alpenglow) Nancy (Angel Eyes) |
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| Christmas morning |
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| Outside Thunderball Grotto |
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| grocery day |
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Christmas eve. Harmonium on left, Haven on right.
We had a rock'n party aboard Alpenglow. What fabulous night! |
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| Christmas feast onboard Angel Eyes |
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Happy hour dingy party!
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After we left Staniel we headed for Black Point, a fun little place we really loved last year. I had 5 loads of laundry to do and they also have free water (we are still without a functioning Water Maker!)
I saw a new wet spot on the floor and Al was noticing a strong diesel odour. After some investigating we realized "Haven" has a significant leak in the fuel tank. NOT what we were hoping for. Al put out a 911 call on channel and before long we had an answer to our prayers, "Wonderful Life" and her captain Doug. He had had to repair his tank a couple of years ago and his boat was full of all the necessary tools and equipment. He really was a life saver, definitely helping reduce Al's stress level. With his help also came a generator so we were able to do the repairs on anchor, running power tools etc. and also keeping our batteries charged. We had about 60 gallons of fuel we had to pump out of our tanks before repairs could even get started. A ran around with the dingy delivering fuel to other cruisers in the anchorage then returning empty jugs to be filled again. Al had some awesome heavy duty sealant on board that we hoped would do the trick. We will get more photos later and I think Al's going to talk more about the process later. So, 4 days later tank is back in place, fuel is in and NO LEAKS. It is amazing to me what was accomplished. Al is always amazing me with his abilities and and very huge THANK YOU to Doug and "Wonderful Life" and everyone else that helped out(there were many) during this very stressful time. We had lots to celebrate last night as we brought in the New year at Scorpio's here in Black Point. Today we are heading out for a change of scenery, slowly making our way to George Town.
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Last sunset of 2014
HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE |
