Welcome aboard! After months ( years) of intense activity, we were thrilled to throw off the lines and head down the river on Thursday. We’re delighted to finally begin the Southern Trawl Bahamas Expedition #2.  Since our 2014-2015 trip, we’ve had several personal home relocations, and renovations, and the boat has had some cosmetic and mechanical repairs and upgrades as well. Tom added solar panels and 2 “Marine Elegance” heads, and a complete Purasan treatment system, to name a few.

 

Let the provisioning begin!

This is what several trips of provisioning with a mini and a pickup looks like.
Getting rid of trash is always a problem when living on a boat, so all of these supplies needed to be taken out of their original packaging, stowed securely away, and then the cardboard, and wrapping removed before leaving the dock.  Even after years of preparation, there remained countless chores that needed to be completed.
A lesson learned from a wise and wonderful Aaron Rice: A clean boat is a fast boat, (7.5 kts is relative) so Southern Trawl got a final bottom cleaning.

We threw off the lines at last. We had to make quick work of it to leave at relative high tide, since there is a sandbar located just behind our slip, and running aground would have been a very anticlimactic part of our departure. Thank you Karen and Dawn for these fun departing shots!

It’s been years since we’ve been underway, making way, on such an extensive journey. We’re all adjusting and relearning how to be “one with the boat”. Slow is Pro… is an excellent motto. Even with Captain Tom’s patience and dedicated attention to detail and follow through, accidents can happen at any time. It also helps that he’s strong, flexible, and mechanically knowledgeable. At times he’s called upon to be navigator, weatherman, engineer, plumber, electrician, and coffee maker. ( Nobody makes and serves a better first morning cup of joe!)

 

       I’d like to introduce a very special passenger we have onboard.

STETSON RENCHER SNOW
In October, I had the privilege of meeting up with a fabulous group of women for our annual horse ride.  We affectionately call ourselves the YeeHaw Sistahs.  This past year we went to Torrey, Utah to attend “The Cowgirls Secret”, hosted by Stetson’s mother, Celia Rencher Snow. It was an amazing experience, filled with good times, laughter, incredible scenery, wonderful horses, and mules, delicious food, music, and just excellent female camaraderie.  We shared good times, concerns and sorrows.

 

Celia almost canceled the trip because of the heartbreak devastation of her son, Stetson’s death, just a few weeks prior to our arrival. She decided to carry on, and was an incredible inspiration to all of us with her gracious hospitality, as she and her extraordinary, all female, wranglers put our needs before theirs.
Stetson had written his funeral/celebration of life request as an exercise while he was in recovery.  He wanted his ashes to be put on a boat out at sea, and the boat lit afire. Celia and the family will be having a celebration of life ceremony for him out in San Diego; a place he loved and had hoped to return. None of the Ashes at Sea companies would carry out the specifics of his request. Celia has entrusted us with this honor. She has sent me a small wooden boat, and a bit of Stetson’s ashes. We look forward to honoring him, and carrying out her request, in an amazingly beautiful location, as yet to be determined.

Having a dog on board adds excitement, fun, and extra challenges. Robert Earl  has been in training since before whelping for this journey. While cruising, we anchor out about 80% of the time. We have a dinghy, that serves as our “car”. We’re intent on getting to Florida for our crossing, so there will be stretches of several  days where we do not go ashore at all. We made it as far as Beaufort last night, and plan to anchor in Vernon River, just before Hell Gate, just inside the Georgia line tonight. (Stay tuned for more to come on Georgia’s ridiculous, overreaching new HB201 anchoring and no discharge laws)

Even though Robert Earl definitely prefers dry land, we are so happy with his calm boat demeanor, and the fact he has learned to carry out business in his designated area!

In closing, we’re glad you’ve decided to come aboard. I think you can sign up to get notifications of new postings. Please stay in touch and send us your comments, suggestions, and gentle criticisms! It’ll keep us from feeling all alone out here !

Making way on a beautiful sunny day.

A What an exciting 7 weeks it has been since my last posting. The challenge now is to condense it all into a manageable rendition including the spark, and avoiding overshare ! When I last checked in, we had arrived in Georgetown Exuma and were anxiously awaiting the beginning of the 62nd annual Family Island Regatta. I must say it far exceeded our expectations.  The week before the actual regatta, Staniel Cay sent their two, much loved Class A sloops, “Lady Muriel”, and. ” Tida Wave” for a pre-regatta exhibition race. The committee asked for 30 volunteers to crew these beautiful vessels in this exciting publicity run.  Tom signed up to be a crew, even though he had never sailed this type of vessel. Tom might not have had as much weight to offer as some to add ballast, but he made up for that by being smart , fast and very enthusiastic. The beautiful hand made wooden boats are so overpowered by the massive cotton sails, that they carry two skinny wooden boards attached only by a thin rope to top of the deck. These boards, called the pry, are slid out over the side so the crew can hike out on them to keep the boat from turning over when the sail fills with the wind.   All the guys, and one hardy woman named Robin (not me), thoroughly enjoyed the experience and now have bragging rights for life. They formed a bond and will be BFF (if guys can actually claim that association ) as having been a part of a thrilling, rare opportunity, working hard, taking risks, and smiling all the way through.

Family Island Regatta is Georgetown’s biggest and busiest event. Islands from all over the Bahamas send their boats and captains to compete for the coveted prize of regatta winner, and cruisers and tourists fill the area to join in the excitement. The best place to watch the race is in your dinghy, chasing and cheering on the race boats as they sail around the course. Click on photos to view full size. 

A big part of my regatta experience centered around trying to obtain one of the most beautiful and sought after T shirts that I have ever seen. I was told that these T shirts can not be purchased but must be presented to you by the skipper of either Lady Muriel or Tida Wave. I asked and pleaded with anyone I saw who happened to be wearing one of the “crew shirts” After many smiles and much sweet talking I finally got mine!

We enjoyed venturing out all around Georgetown and dIscovering all that this settlement and it’s neighboring Stocking Island has to offer.I mentioned we were headed out to Eddie’s Rake and Scrape in my last blog. It is truly a locals event, but they are delighted to share this cultural experience with visitors & cruisers.

Stocking Island, which is located just across Elizabeth Harbor from Georgetown, offers many hiking trails and is home to the very popular Chat and Chill beach restaurant and bar. Every Sunday Chat and Chill serves up a Bar-B-Que buffet, and is just a great place to play sand volley ball or join in a game of Mexican Train Dominoes. The less energetic may choose to cool off in the shallows and feed the friendly sting rays with the left over scraps from the conch salad maker.

A large number of families depend on the income from making the plaited material called “top” gathered from the silver palm. This material is woven together into strips and the strips sewn together to make baskets, purses, place mats, hats, bowls, and a wide variety of household decorative items. There is a straw market in the center of town where the ladies sell their woven wares, along with handmade jewelry, and other items to sell to the tourists.

The week before regatta, the women had really stocked up on their wares in anticipation of selling to the crowds coming into town for regatta. One night about 9:00, Tom and I were sitting out on the back deck of our boat, which was anchored across on the other side of Elizabeth Harbor, about a mile from the downtown area of Georgetown. We looked up and were horrified to see huge flames and billowing smoke rising from town. We couldn’t tell what was on fire when we looked through the binoculars, but knew the island did not have a fire truck. We could see cars racing from all directions. The next morning, we were saddened to hear that it was the straw market that had burned completely to the ground, destroying all of the stock that had been so painstakingly prepared.

We are always amazed at our small world reminders and were thrilled to run into Michelle, the night of Eddies Rake and Scrape. Michele and John, on board Dalila, hailed from Folly Beach. Tom and I had enjoyed meeting this outgoing adventurous young couple at Mariners Cay. They owned an adventure company and spent part of their time in Chile.

They had planned to take their sailboat to Florida, fly to Chile for the season there, and then return to the boat and head south to the Bahamas. We wished them luck, and looked forward to crossing paths somewhere during our Bahamas cruise. Once we left Folly, we exchanged a couple of emails, but had not heard from them until we ran into Michelle in Georgetown, Exuma at Eddie’s. We exchanged hugs and hellos and were so excited to see Michelle who looked as beautiful as ever. We were horribly saddened to learn that John had been killed by a shark attack the month before. Michelle briefly and bravely told us what happened and shared her blog site with us.                       Simplyafloat.com

It had been Johns dream to take their boat all the way to Georgetown, so Michelle had managed to return to the boat after the accident, and with the help of her brother, had brought Dalila all the way south to Georgetown, Exuma and were now turning her around to return her to Charleston.

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Michelle is an incredible writer, so I encourage you to read their beautiful and  tragic story, and to continue to follow along with Michelle as she continues her life and her blog. A life that is full of adventure , is also full of risks. We wish Michelle all the best,and will remember John as a fine young man who lived his life to the fullest and died much too young, doing what he loved.

On a happier note, our adventure continued with a quick trip back to Charleston to attend my youngest son, Elliott’s Citadel graduation. it was also a rare and much looked forward to occasion to get to see all three of my sons together. Traveling home from the Exumas is no simple feat. We first had to prepare the boat to be without power, by defrosting the refrigerator and emptying the frig and freezer of all perishable goods. Then put Southern Trawl into a safe marina, and asked our friend to give us a dinghy ride to a deep water dock, where the water taxi could pick us up. The water taxi took us, and our luggage across Elizabeth Harbor to the Government dock, where we caught a taxi to the small airport. We had a connecting flight through Nassau, and another through Charlotte, and then finally home to Charleston.

Our return to the islands was not to be met with a quiet week of rest and relaxation. As May is the month that I had signed up to host my wonderful Charleston Bunko group, I suggested we have a Bahama Mama Bunko in addition to the one I had just hosted while we were home.  Much to our delight, 5 wonderful women, along with Anne, (another fun lady we had met while cruising. Her husband Marc had been a part of the “Tida Wave” crew with Tom during regatta)  decided to join us to experience the island life for a week. We had previously selected a beautiful house, a short dinghy ride from the center of Georgetown. Tom generously agreed to be our Dinghy Boy for the week. He was actually looking forward to a bit of quiet “Tom time” on the boat while the ladies and I enjoyed shopping and touring the area. As it turned out, Tom got a tiny bit of R & R , but was kept very busy hauling us around from place to place and helping to keep the busy activities schedule running smoothly. We also enlisted the help of Marc, Anne’s husband, and dubbed him Dinghy boy #2. In order to be able to call our Dinghy Boy when we need a ride, we decided to take the hand held VHF radio with us to the rental house. The VHF channel 68 is a public channel and is used and overheard by everyone in the Georgetown and Elizabeth Harbor area. When we hailed Tom on the radio , of course we had to come up with a name to identify who was calling. Tom appropriately dubbed us “The Mixed Nuts” after one of our favorite snack time provisions. The harbor must certainly have gotten a kick hearing, “Southern Trawl, Southern Trawl  this is Mixed Nuts, come in please.” several times each day and evening! The night of the ladies arrival, we enjoyed  a “Welcome to the Bahamas’ dinner prepared in our rental house by the very talented owner and chief cook of Cheaters restaurant. “Cheater” (pronounced Cheetah) prepared a delicious meal of fresh conch chowder, poached fish with veggies, sautéed carrots, peas and rice, finished off with a fabulously moist and potent rum cake. The next day we saw Cheetah at Chat and Chill beach where he posed with us for this fun shot!

The week was filled with lots of great fun and laughter. On Sunday we enjoyed the  Bar B Que at “Chat and Chill” beach on Stocking Island.

Monday was spent having lunch at “Peace and Plenty” restaurant, home of the creamy dreamy pina coladas and shopping in downtown Georgetown. (Thank you ladies for stimulating the local economy) Tuesday we rented a 15 passenger van and hired J J, a local cab driver to drive us around the island. JJ engaged the services of Ms Christine Rolle, who is an 85 year old retired cab driver and Root Medicine Doctor. Christine asked Tom to marry her, and told him that since she is a native heir to the Rolle property, they would be able to live out the rest of their lives together in a home overlooking the incredible turquoise sea.  Christine entertained us with many hysterical and historical stories about life in the out islands. She had prepared for us, some homemade johnny cakes and herbal tea. She showed us native plants used for various remedies, mosquito repellant, and even one that was a guaranteed aphrodisiac.

Tuesday evening we took in Eddie”s last Rake and Scrape of the season. We hired our favorite cab driver JJ to  take us into town, and Tom and Marc brought the dingies over and met us there. The place was loud to begin with, and Tom and Marc found a perfect way to handle the restaurant noise as well as the cacophony of 7 joyous and slightly inebriated women all talking at once. Since the cabs don”t run after 10:00, it was an interesting ride, needless to say, back to the house in the  two dinghies with 7 singing women and our wonderful dinghy boys.

Wednesday we said good bye to Donna and Patty so the rest of us enjoyed the week checking out local beaches, and enjoying a cookout with Anne and Mark on Flip Flop Beach  This is a beautiful little spot where cruisers, unknown to us, have set up common use area complete with tiki hut, beautiful wooden bar, and decorated with stacked rock walls and conch shells.

The week flew by and we were exhausted from all of the organized activity, but were absolutely thrilled these wonderful ladies chose to come enjoy a bit of island time with us. Thank you again Anne and Mark for being such a fun part of the week as well. I’ll stop here for now. I’ll be updating again very soon to tell you about our island aerial tour and our fantastic discoveries on Long Island.

Hey, just a reminder. We really appreciate your following our blog and we’d love to hear back from you. Send us a comment or just say hi ! Thanks

 

 

 

One of the best things about cruising is that it offers a wide variety of adventures, but even if you’re careful, you can sometimes find a few misadventures. We take each day as it comes and are always amazed by what reveals itself. Each day, Tom diligently studies the charts, checks in with 3 separate weather forecasting sights,  and is proactive in maintaining Southern Trawl’s mechanical systems.  This has kept us out of any real trouble so far…

Having made our successful crossing down to Roberts Cay, we ventured south to Allen’s and Leaf Cays at the northern tip of the Exuma Islands chain, for our first taste of the spectacular clear Exuma water that we had heard so much about. These two cays create a beautiful protected anchorage, and are also home to the endangered, bizarre looking, and inquisitive Iguana.

Having seen these huge lizards reminded us that we had not seen Lizardo in quite a while. We weren’t really too concerned since we were accustomed to his disappearing on the boat for a week or so at the time. About that same time, I became disgusted after seeing another live cockroach. I had hoped that having Lizardo on board ,would help keep those pests under control. I asked Tom to please shake out the chair covers that we keep stored in the wicker table on the back deck. I thought that seemed to be a likely place to harbor roaches. It was also one of Lizardo’s favorite hangouts, so I got prepared with a pot with clear glass lid in case Lizardo should run out when Tom pulled out the covers. The plan was to keep a sharp lookout, grab him, and keep him secure while we shook out the chair covers.

Tom slowly and carefully pulled the cover loose and sure enough, 2 or 3 roaches scurried out. I made quick work of them with the flyswatter.  Next Tom opened out the cover, again very slowly, and decided to shake it out over the water in case any insects were hanging on. At the last minute, we saw a lizard fall into the water. We both hollered, “Oh no, there went Lizardo!”. Tom quickly jumped down onto the swim platform and scooped him up. I grabbed the pot and Tom dropped him into it, and I clamped the glass lid on top. We looked into the pot, through the glass lid, and were very surprised to see that we were not looking at Lizardo. It was a baby curly tail.

 

(Sharon this one is for you!)

The only logical and reasonable explanation for this, is that our beloved Lizardo had decided to make his transition to island life complete.  He couldn’t quite aspire to being an Island Iguana, but he could see himself as a curly tail and morphed.  Realizing it was time to set our little one on the road to independence, Tom took an old peanut butter jar and poked holes in the lid. (just like the ones our moms used to make when we were catching fire flies or tad poles)

We put little LC (Lizardo Curly Tail) into the jar, took a dinghy ride to shore, and gently set the jar down. We carefully opened the top of the jar on the beach at the base of a beautiful palm tree, on an idealic uninhabited island. LC ran out as fast as lightening , then paused for a moment on a beach rock. He looked up at us while Tom said a few words of encouragement, then took off to disappear underneath the ground cover of leaves and sand.

 

Next we anchored at Highborne Cay, the setting of another recommended book about island life called “Life on a Rock, A Bahamas Out-Island Adventure” written by K.A. Albury. Since the publication of the book, Highborne has new owners and much improved facilities enjoyed by beautiful mega yachts. The marina is very pricey, so we enjoyed anchoring out and then taking the dinghy ashore for long hikes with incredibly beautiful overlooks and deserted soft sandy beaches with gin clear surf.  The westerly facing restaurant/bar is the perfect spot to catch “The green flash” of sunset, which appears just as the sun’s fireball sinks below the horizon.

During our Highborne Cay hike, we got carried away and wandered down through the resident village area and over to the far side of the island, and ventured a little farther than originally planned. It was very hot and sunny, and we were out of water, so we decided to take a break and wait for a ride back to the marina. Being a boat access only place, the wait was a little more than Tom could take.

Moving our way down the Exuma chain, we had been looking forward to visiting the Exumas Land and Sea Park. The park was established in1958 and is one of 25 parks and protected areas managed by the Bahamas National Trust.  The park is a “no take zone”, meaning there is no fishing, shelling, conching or lobstering allowed within the boundaries of the park which covers 176 square miles, and is famous for its pristine beauty, outstanding anchorages, and breath taking marine environment. Our first anchorage  in the park was spent at Shroud Cay. That afternoon  we slowly drifted our dinghy on an outgoing tide, along a beautiful mangrove creek from the banks side of the cay to the ocean.

Be sure to click on the little thumbnail pictures to enlarge them if you would like to see the detail and intensity of colors. 

ALL PICTURES:    CLICK TO ENLARGE

 

 

Th next day we picked up a mooring at  Warderick Wells Cay which is the location of the park headquarters. Having joined the Bahamas National Trust as a support fleet member, we received complementary, the 3 nights mooring. We enjoyed meeting the park staff and exploring this beautiful cay.  Remoras are known as “shark suckers” or “sucker fish” . Their dorsal fin takes the form of a flat modified oval , sucker- like organ with slats that they can open or close to create suction and attach themselves to the skin of larger marine animals. They have a pronounced underbite and scoop their food quickly with a snapping sound. I dropped a left over crust of bread into the water, and a 3′ remora darted out from underneath our boat to scarf it right up. We had read that they sometimes attach themselves to the bottoms of boats. Later that afternoon while we were snorkeling, we spotted two remora underneath a neighboring boat. When they spotted us, one turned and headed our way. I had a moment of panic until the creature decided to turn around and head back over to it’s previous spot.

We moved further south and out of the Land and Sea Park to anchor out at Compass Cay. Tom fell in love with this laid back friendly island and threatened to jump ship. Tucker, who has managed the marina since 1964, was welcoming and cooks the best cheeseburger-in-paradise to be found. We ventured ashore on Sunday morning, which has become a traditional waffles and bacon breakfast on the dock for the locals and the returning cruisers. They generously invited us to share in this delicious custom.  On the wall of the marina store are the  pictures of recent guests poising with Tucker including Michael Jordan, Labron James, and Johnny Depp.

Compass Cay is also a very popular tourist destination, as you are encouraged to swim with the nurse sharks who hang out and are well fed by the tourists.

Next we made our way to Staniel Cay where our friends Mary Jane and Bob White and their son, Adam, flew in on Friday March 27th, to come on board for 5 days. Adam is a senior at Chapin High School and was on spring break. We were delighted he and they agreed to spend the time with us. 

The night of the their arrival we had a bit too much excitement and a frightening wild night at the docks.  We had been warned that there are very few places that offer protection during westerly winds. Staniel Cay Yacht Club Marina is no exception. We had been closely watching the forecasts and were a little concerned that north/northwest winds from 15-20 knots were being predicted. The marina has a policy that if westerly winds get to 20 knots, that they will clear the marina.  All boats must leave to prevent damage to the boats and the dock.

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Staniel is a very busy marina frequented by yachts of all size including those 100′ or more.  With the upcoming weekend events, the marina decided to play down the weather report and let all the boats stay to ride out the front.  Fortunately  we were on the inside slip where the winds would blow us away from the dock, not into them. Tom had added additional lines to the dingy to keep it away from the boat and had strapped a couple extra fenders between our boat and the dock in case of wind shifts and bounce back from the waves. Around 3:30 AM the storm raged. We went up on deck and watched helplessly as the rain poured down and gusts of up to 38mph whipped up high waves and tore at all the boats in the full marina. “Joan’s Ark” is a magnificent 112′ yacht. She  was tied along the outside slip and her captain and crew had to use their bow thrusters to get her off the dock enough to try to free up one of her enormous fenders. The fender had gotten wedged up under the dock as the waves were lifting and crashing her up and down . The force of the crash caused a section of her railing to be ripped off. As Tom had no way to safely jump from our boat onto the dock in the raging water,  He managed to lasso a forward piling with an extra bow line, and then one of the men on the dock  caught a additional stern line to strenghthen our hold to the dock. The big yachts who had tethered their 30′ chase boats alongside, had to have their captains jump down into the smaller boats and ride out the storm to prevent both vessels from being severely damaged from crashing into each other during every wave.  The storm finally passed at dawn and we were finally able to catch a little sleep.

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We had reserved our slip in Staniel Cay Yacht Club Marina well in advance since Saturday March 28th they were hosting the annual 007 James Bond Casino Night. Party goers are highly encouraged to “dress the part” and enjoy a festive night of casino gambling. This hugely popular annual fundraising event is in support of the Staniel Cay “A Class Challenge” regatta. Several Bond Movies have been filmed here, as this is home of the famous underwater snorkeling open cave referred to as “Thunderball Grotto”. Mary Jane came prepared with tuxedo T Shirts for the guys and a beautiful Bond girl dress for herself. I decided to wear my dive skins, complete with gun holster weight belt and strapped on a large dive knife to my arm. We had a blast, and much to my delight, I was crowned “Ms. Thunderball ” and won 2nd place in the Bond Girl costume contest. Sorry we don’t have any pictures! I decided to leave the photography  to Adam and his GoPro shots! Still waiting to get those back. Hey Adam, we know they are great ! Please share !!!!

We enjoyed the White’s visit. Tom especially enjoyed having Cap’n Adam taking the helm on our journey to and from Black Point,  assist in anchoring and un-anchoring,  and planning the navigation.

During their vist we visited the swimming pigs of Big Majors Cay, snorkled Thunderball Grotto and saw a few more iguanas at Bitter Guana Cay.

On their last day we decided to take an exploratory hike around Black Point which is located on Great Guana. All was well until I got the bright idea to leave the group and  take a “short cut” through some dense vegetation. Well Brer Rabbit, I am NOT ! It wasn’t long before I realized the error of my ways, but I was so entangled in the sharp scratching underbrush, that I was convinced I should forge ahead instead of trying to turn back. After what seemed like a life time, I began calling for help. I could not see above or below the bushes and briars and my calls were muffled in the canopy. Finally I heard Tom calling to me. It took a little over an hour for me to get clear and Tom to finally reach me. As it was now around 3:00 and we hadn’t eaten much breakfast or any lunch, I insisted on buying everybody a beer and lunch. My legs and arms were completely covered in scratches and 2 days later I broke out in the dreaded awful poison wood rash. Poison wood is much like poison ivy but much hotter, continues to break out for several days and lasts about 2 weeks before the itching stops. I used topical hydrocortisone and also the locals recommendation of vinegar. Needless to say, Tom was a saint during my tribulations and never once said “I told you so!” He did say I smelled like a pickle after my daily vinegar baths. Big adventure, Lesson learned!!!

We headed down toward our current location of Georgetown, but made a couple of stops along the way. One was at a tiny little settlement of Little Farmers Cay. We went ashore and met a local fisherman who sold us some fresh conch salad.

He was a very entertaining fellow who talked to us while he prepared our lunch on the dock.  One funny story he told us was that since he is a fisherman he eats a lot of protein which makes him capable of producing lots of babies very quickly. He said when his wife had 2 children shortly after they were married, his mother-in-law advised that they needed to “cut it off, or “tie it up”.  He assured us that his wife had gotten “tied up” because “He wasn’t gettin spaded or notin!”

We anchored out one night at Musha Cay and Rudder Cay which David Copperfield owns and has created an incredible island paradise. You and 23 of your closest friends can rent a portion of the island and a staff of 30 to tend to your needs, for around $45,000.00 per night. Of course that $$$$ could go up depending on the season.

We have made it to Georgetown, which may be the end of the line, or our Southern most destination. Georgetown is the turn around point for many cruisers. It is such a popular spot, with as many as 400 boats anchored here in Elizabeth Harbor, that there is a cruisers net on the VHF radio channel 68 every morning at 8:00AM. When your listen in you will hear the weather forecast, find out what the local businesses are offering that day,  listen to who are new arrivals to the area, who’s departing, find out where and when Yoga, dominos, bible study, or water aerobics can be found.  Today we followed directions and signed up with 20 other folks to share a water taxi over to Georgetown to go to the local “Rake and Scrape” for dinner and dancing tonight. Next week is the SUPERBOWL, WORLD SERIES, NBA FINALS, MASTERS TOURNAMENT, and OLYMPICS of Bahama sailing. It is actually called the Bahama Family Island Regatta. There will be 5 classes of racing boats which are all wooden, hand made and must be built in the Bahamas, by Bahamians , and skippered by locals as well. The small vessels are so overpowered by the cotton sails, that they crew with 6-8 big guys who hike out over the side of the boat to add weight to keep it from flipping over. We’ve heard that we can follow along beside these boats in our dinghy to cheer on our favorites. Should be fun! Check back to see all of the excitement .

Seems like no matter where we are, or what time of day it is, the view just keeps getting better.

 

 

 

Hello and Happy Easter to all,

WIFI connections have been a bit sketchy for the last couple of weeks, so attempts to update the blog led to stress and frustration which totally defeats the purpose of chillin in the islands.  Our connections seem to be strong this morning, so I’ll attempt to give you a quick update through photos of the fantastic people and places we’ve enjoyed since our Cuba trip.

We were sad to say goodbye to Bernadette, but In addition to taking hilarious Australian Language lessons while she was with us, we made plans and promises for a future trip to Australia one of these days. The very next day, we were thrilled to take the ferry from Elbow Cay over to Marsh Harbor and welcome Walsh & Laura!

Having enjoyed our time in the Abacos, we decided it was time to head further south. We  re-provisioned at the Marsh Harbor Maxwell’s grocery store. It is the biggest and most like our American grocery stores with fresh fruits and vegetables, a deli and good selection of most things, especially on Thursdays after the boat has come in.  As a rule of thumb, everything here costs 1 1/2 times what it does in the states, except beer, which costs 3 times as much. Some things are just worth it !

Cruising from the Abacos down to the Exumas requires an ocean passage from Little Harbor to Spanish Wells Eleuthera. We connected with our friends Kathy and Chuck down at Little Harbor who were on a beautiful Grand Banks 49  “Sea Fever”, to make the crossing together on the morning of March 6th. We also had radio contact with another really fun couple, Jeff and Sally, on their awesome Monk 36, “Adirondack” and learned they would be crossing that day as well.   The crossing is about 50 miles.   We had moderate conditions with 3-4′ swells and a little chop. In the wide open ocean we could see other boats crossing north or south.

It’s hard to believe you actually have to be on the lookout to avoid collision with so much open space.  We spied a couple of container ships and Tom taught me how to take a bearing on those approaching vessels useing a hand held compass.  When you spot a vessel in the distance that appears to be coming your way,  you take a bearing every few minutes. If the numbers are changing each time, then you know that the oncoming vessel will pass in front of or behind you. If the numbers are constant, then it means you are on a collision course.

One vessel seemed to be coming along in close proximity. We had taken several bearings and assured ourselves that if we maintained our same course and speed, that we would indeed cross in front of that vessel. We were not so sure about Sea Fever, who was traveling a few thousand yards behind us. As the 2 vessels drew close to one another, Captain Chuck radioed the huge ship to ask if they felt like his course and speed was acceptable. The ship never responded. At the last minute, Chuck did alter his course and speed a bit,  and scooted in front of the ship. That was just a little too close for comfort!

We all arrived safely in Spanish Wells. Spanish wells is a very busy commercial fishing town. The PInder family is the most prevelant name here. It was interesting to visit the local Cemetary and see PInder on 80% of the tombstones.  We rented bikes and enjoyed a strenuous tour over the hilly island. On our way back to the boat, we crossed over a beautiful river bridge connecting Russell Island to Spanish Wells. There were some attractive young ladies swimming in the river , lounging on the sand, and a couple of whom had just jumped from the bridge into the cool clear water below. It was all a little too much for Tom to resist. Check out this 14 second video.

Another highlight of our visit to Spansih Well was meeting Monty and Sara Lewis. Monty and Sara are the authors of “The Explorer Charts and Cruising Guides” .  They were also staying at the Spanish Well Yacht Harbor Marina and were waiting for the winds to settle a bit before navigating around to Harbor Island. That particular trip is very hazardous and they recommend  in their guide books for cruisers to hire a local guide to come onboard your vessel to steer you safely through the coral heads and open ocean surf of the dangerous “Devils Backbone” route. We took their advice one step further. We decided to leave Southern Trawl at the dock and bought passage on the huge, hish speed, island ferry. It was $105.00 well spent. From the top deck of the ferry we watched in amazement as our ship crashed through surf, narrowly avoided coral heads, and at times came with in just a few feet of the shore line. Local knowledge and intestinal fortitude rules out in those situations.

We enjoyed Harbor Island, playground of the rich and famous. There is some local color and spice on Harbor Island, but it is also a favored destination of MegaYachts, expensive boutiques, $42 lunch quesadillas, $358 swimsuit cover ups and the residence of many wealthy residents. (We were told there are 14 Billioneres who have homes on the north end of the island). It is also home to Jimmy Moree, known as Jimmy Devine. We highly recommend you read the engaging life story of Jimmy, one of the most successful marijuana traffickers of the 1970’s, in the bestseller biography, “Weed Man, The remarkable Journey of Jimmy Devine”, by John McCaslin.

The beautiful truth about the Bahama life is that whether you are on a tiny $15,000 sailboat, a 1983 trawler, or a multi-million dollar mega yacht complete with helicopter and fast moving toys , we all have the same front row ticket to enjoy these crystal clear waters, abundant sea life and meet the warm and friendly people of these scattered islands.I’ll stop here for now

Got lots more to share, but hey it’s Easter and we’ve got to hunt down some more colorful scenes. Check back soon!

Welcome back aboard. Sorry it has been 41 days since we last checked in. What a whirlwind it has been. I’ll try to be brief while we get caught up, and also do justice to the incredible adventures we have had while we were offline. On January 31st we flew to Miami and met our travel group, Academic Arrangements Abroad and the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art Team.

 Even before we boarded our plane for Cuba, we know we were in for an exciting trip, as our fellow travelers were all first class, sophisticated and well traveled individuals; most from “Up North” and one couple from Europe. They welcomed us Southern Boat People with good humor.  

Cuba, a country of contrasts and complex issues, exceeded all of our expectations at every turn. We had never traveled with an organized tour group, and were pleasantly surprised with the quality of the guides, speakers, presentations, sights and encounters that had been arranged for us. As this was a people to people art tour, we had the opportunity to visit artist’s homes and studios, and attend a wonderful variety of art, dance and musical performances.

One of my favorites was  an informal rehearsal of the National Cuban dance team. Just watching their warm up routine was thrilling and exhausting.

Our week was nonstop, colorful and exciting touring of Havana with some very interesting and informative lectures on the history, current attitudes, and hopes for the future of the Cuban people, as well as explanations of the extremely complicated political situation that is now unfolding.

Tom and I ventured out into the streets during a bit of our free time to visit the local markets. There are two currencies in place in Cuba. When we exchanged our money, we were given Convertible Pesos, otherwise known as  CUC’s.  One CUC is valued at about $1 U.S. dollar.  The local Cuban people are paid in Cuban pesos which have a value of about 24 to $1, or about 4 cents each. Under communism, the idea is for everyone to be equal. Doctors make  $20 per month. The street sweeper makes $20 per month.  The local people also receive a monthly ration of certain items, 5 eggs per person per month, a certain amount of milk, cigarettes , etc. This is not really enough for a family, so they must go to the market to buy what they need. At the market we visited, the prices are in local Pesos and a whole basket of fruits, meats and vegetables would only cost the local person around $3.00. Artists are not subject to these rules, and they are the richest people in the country. They can sell their works for any price. Art is also not subject to the US embargo. Very recently people have been allowed to open up private restaurants in their homes called paladars. It is now legal for locals to also rent out rooms as hotel accommodations. This is the very beginning of opening the door to capitalism and entrepreneurship.

The local people were incredibly friendly and welcoming to us. They all seemed very excited with the idea of normalized relations with the US. When Obama made his announcement of the US desire to normalize relations, it put extreme pressure on the Cuban government to make changes to satisfy the people. The US is no longer the enemy, and can not be used as the reason for their woes.  According to our lecturers, the Cuban government admits that they have made mistakes and the system of dual currencies is not sustainable. The country is shrinking, with 35,000 people leaving each year. It is the young women and men, who are the future of Cuba, who are choosing to leave. There are many old people who left many years ago, who now are returning to Cuba to die. This is also putting a strain on the system. The people and the government realize that Cuba is a minnow who is trying to swim with a giant shark, so will be very difficult to maintain their own culture and independence, while avoiding being gobbled up.

The city of Havana reminded me a lot of Charleston, with beautiful architectural details and building styles from many periods of history.  Then imagine putting the city through 50 years of complete depression with no incentive or money to maintain the buildings or infrastructure. The revolution occurred in 1959 and each year Cuba received billions of dollars in aide from the Soviet union, up until the collapse in 1989. 1990 began what is now called the “Special Period”. The city is literally crumbling apart. Cubans are allowed to “own” their own homes, which means they own their 300 sq feet of living space within a large building. The government owns the building, and there is no HOA, and no one maintains the structure itself.  We were told during one of our lectures, by a leading Cuban architect, that In the city of Havana, 3 houses per day literally fall into the streets. Tom walked through the streets trying to imagine what it was like when his father had lived and worked here back in the 40’s.

Up until very recently it was illegal for individuals to buy or sell their car or houses. If your family owned a car back in 1959, you did everything you could to keep it running, which is why there are so many amazing classic cars running around. Many have new Toyota engines under the hoods, but there are plenty that are classic all the way through.

We had an overnight  trip to the countryside to visit a few rural artists, Hemmingway’s home, and the beautiful seaside town of Veradero. Hemmingway’s house and grounds and his boat Pilar are now a museum. The house has been left untouched, perfectly intact, as if he had merely stepped out and might return any minute.

I will stop now to let you go back and enjoy this photo tour of Cuba, Since our return from this trip, we have being going full steam ahead with our Bahamas adventure. I’ll check back in again soon to catch you up on our progress. Tom captured this amazing angle video to help him remember the lively sights and sounds of Cuba. Enjoy!

We love to quote our wonderful new friend Carole who, with her beautiful French accent, just up and says “It is a good life!”  She often gets caught up in the moment of a pretty flash of sunlight on the beautiful gin clear blue green water, or an unexpected sea turtle popping his head up to sneek a peek at us crazy cruisers, and spontaneously comes out with this sentiment. We couldn’t agree more !

Abraham Lincoln once said, “Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be”.  Again, we concur! You’d have to try really hard not to smile at the beauty that surrounds us here.

Cooking in my my tiny boat galley can be a challenge at times. Tom is a good sport when my “cooking experiments” turn out less than tasty.  I rediscovered a recipe from a book I used years ago called, “Whole Foods for the Whole Family”. The recipe is called “Puffed Pancake”I used our big iron skillet and the simple one dish, one pan breakfast pancake Was a huge yummy success! I served it with fresh lemon slices and real maple syrup. If you’re interested in getting the recipe, just let me know.

We had the opportunity to visit with our friends Burrelle and Earl Meeks. Burrelle was the principle of Knight Elementary School in Georgia where my sons attended. They are both retired now and enjoy their lovely home on Man-O-War Cay, 6 months each year.  Earl is a physicist turn artist.  He set up his telescope, during our last visit and showed me the rings of Saturn. It was an amazing sight I’ll never forget.  Since our last visit a few years ago, their yard has been transformed. Earl has created and placed several fun and whimsical sculptures around the property, and Burrelle has managed to get beautiful plants blooming all around that attract lots of emerald green  hummingbirds. She also volunteers in the local school a couple of days each week. I’m sure the children and teachers are delighted to have her lively, creative and experienced input. I’m sorry I missed getting a picture with lovely Burrelle, but we’ll capture that one on our next visit .

 

We enjoyed a lovely dinner on the island. Burrelle and Earl have also given us valuable information about how to have necessary boat parts affordably shipped in through the appropriate channels. It can be a complicated, expensive, endeavor figuring out customs and tariffs and VAT’s. We also attended an “Arts in the Park” fund raiser for the Bahamas National Trust. The trust strives to protect the natural habitats, and are keepers of all of the national marine sanctuaries. Tom was pleased to buy an original water color painting from a very talented 10 year old local artist, Joshua Higgs. The sand pictures were taken by Tom out on the beach and created by Mother Nature herself.

We will be out of touch for the next week, and I mean literally out of touch, as on Saturday we will be heading for a life’s dream vist to Cuba. It’s only for a week, but we are very  much looking forward to having the opportunity to walk the streets in this previously forbidden land. Tom has long dreamed of visiting Havana. His daddy, Cap’n Vivian Bessent, worked on a dredge boat there, back in 40’s, as they built Guantanamo Bay. He remembers hearing stories of Old Havana, and seeing pictures of Vivian, dressed in high waisted white linen pants, standing out in the square.

Don’t worry, this is a legal, sanctioned trip, so we won’t be thrown in jail, or get our boat confiscated when we return. Actually we will be leaving Southern Trawl in the Abacos and flying to Florida, where we will meet up with our travel group. It is a Metroplitan Museum of Art associated trip, so we will more than likely be over our heads when it comes to the expression  of culture  and symbolism of the emerging art world.  Hey, we’ll look really interested and try to keep up as best we can, while enjoying the colorful scenery and looking forward to eating some incredibly delicious Cuban food. We have friends who escaped Cuba during the revolution, and have not returned for many reasons, so we will also be taking lots of pictures to share with them as well, upon our return.

Stay tuned as we promise to bring back as much of the sights, sounds, and culture of this beautiful country. Unfortunatly we’ve been told that cigars would be immediately confiscated, if we were to try to bring those home. We are allowed to bring back unlimited “educational and artistic ” works. Let’s see how broadly we can expand that definition! Also with the US administration’s announcement that the US will be normalizing relations, we are hoping that the people will be encouraged to open up and speak more freely of their lives and hopes and dreams for the future.

Adios para hora!

P.S.   In case you’ve been wondering about Lizardo, we felt sure we’d be writing to share the sad tale of his demise. Lizardo has been making appearances every few days since our return back to the boat after Christmas. Tom had decided to help the little guy out. He placed  an empty sardine can, with a piece of fruit or fish in it on the lower shelf of a wicker table on our back deck, where he’s been spotted lately. The can and offerings were meant to attract fresh bugs for Lizardo to snack on. Much  to our dismay, there is a cat who lives at this marina. In the wee hours of the morning we heard a commotion on the deck.  We saw the cat leaving our boat while trying to drag the sardine can with her. We were afraid that the cat had probably already eaten our beloved Lizardo and was just taking the can for dessert.  We were very relieved when a few hours later Lizardo crawled out from hiding in the folded chair covers.

I’ll leave you with a few more photos from the lovely Abacos!

 

 

 

Fortunately shark attacks are rare, and using common sense, most can be avoided. Tom and I were excited to be headed to Tahiti Beach, which is an incredibly beautiful clear water, shallow area with beautiful white sand and palm lined beach located just off  Elbow Cay. We were shocked to hear of a tragic occurrence that had happened just a few days before.  There had been 4 or 5 boats anchored up just off the bank, and many people had enjoyed the day, snorkeling and swimming, Some were fishing and, it has been reported, some were also cleaning fish in the area. It is well known that it is safest not to be in the water where there is chumming of any kind, especially late in the afternoon.

That afternoon around 4:30, a 34 year old woman and her husband, who were here on vacation from Texas, decided to jump back into the water.  The husband reported that his wife, who was in the water on the opposite side of the boat, surfaced and calmly said, ” A shark bit me.” Her husband thought she was joking because she showed no emotion. The woman then climbed up the swim ladder under her own power. Her husband was horrified to see that half of her back was missing, and she was bleeding profusely. It was their good fortune that a doctor and nurse were on a boat near by. The victim was wrapped in a towel creating a tourniquet. The boat sped towards Marsh Harbour and radioed the authorities. BASRA (Bahamas Air Sea Rescue Association) responded immediately. The Marsh Harbor docks were cleared, emergency heath care workers met the boat and the patient was transported to the airport, where she was air lifted to a Miami hospital. We were relieved to hear she is out of ICU, but has had multiple surgeries, and will have to have many more over a long period of recovery. During her second operation, the surgeon removed what they believe to be a large Bull shark’s tooth from her wound. The patient says she plans too make a necklace out of it! Needless to say, you can’t live your life in fear, but we have made it a practice to only snorkel and swim in clear calm conditions in the middle of the day, not early in the morning or late in the afternoon.

Sandy Cay is a Marine Sanctuary located a few miles south of Hope Town. We enjoyed seeing rays, large barracuda, turtles, and numerous other beautiful colorful fish. We also spotted a couple of Lion Fish , which are incredibly beautiful with their spotted flowing fins, but they are an invasive species and have a powerful venomous sting if you get too close to their barbs. The Bahamian authorities ask that they be killed on site. We did not kill the ones we saw because we didn’t know how we would be able to get them off of our spear without getting stuck.

We had stopped at Hope Town for a couple of days on our way down to Sandy Cay. Hope Town is a very charming, quaint, colorful, bougainvillea filled town with pastel colored cottages. It is home to the red and white candy striped light house that is featured in many advertisements for the Bahamas and especially the Abacos. It is also home to Vernon’s grocery store. Vernon, who is a direct descendant of the founder of Hope Town, Minister of the local Methodist Church, and chief baker of the fabulous fresh breads and Best Key Lime Pie we have ever tasted, never disappoints! The following pictures show just a few of the sweet streetscapes that we enjoyed as we strolled through town.

Here’s a peek of Vernon at work in his grocery store, and a few of his wise sayings and good advice that you find posted through out his store.

Today we are tucked in snug and safe at the Marsh Harbour Marina, also referred to as “The Jib Room” which is the popular restaurant and bar. Tonight is steak, music and dancing night. I’m planning to back slide on my vegetarian commitments for the evening.

Tom checks the weather daily and compares several different web sites to make sure we stay safe and comfortable. He has also explained how important it is to rely on your own anchoring abilities, or get onto the leeward side of an island if there is a chance of rising winds, or to just pull into a marina if those options don’t exist.  He has always said it is unwise to pick up any random mooring, if you don’t know the condition of that mooring. Obviously it’s holding ability is only as strong as its weakest link. We decided to move our boat over here yesterday, as the forecast had called for 20-30 mph winds. It is a good thing we did, as the winds have been gusting 30+ knots all afternoon, and boats have been slipping on their anchor all around.

A monohull sailboat tried to come into the marina with gusts pushing it much faster than was manageable. The captain was at the helm and the mate was in their dinghy, trying to act as a bow thruster to assist the boat into its slip. The dinghy got wedged in between the boat and a piling and narrowly missed getting smooshed.

As we sat in the reatuarant overlooking the harbor, Tom noticed a huge catamaran sliding towards the marina. The captains of that boat were not on board. The boat was tied up to a mooring in the harbor which broke loose and the catamaran crashed into the side of a beautiful new Nordhaven.

After our too exciting day, I have decided that Tom will no longer be allowed to help with the laundry after happy hour !

I’ll leave you with a bit of sound and a visual of what 30 knot winds feel like. Jim Cantore, top this!

Guess my last post was just a mite short on words and details. These beautiful islands deserve a bit better coverage than that, so I’ll back track a little before we get to much farther down the line.

 

 

We left Green Turtle with mixed emotions. We had gotten so spoiled by the openness and hospitality of not only Green Turtle Club Marina, but also of the whole island in general. It has such an authentic feel to it. Yes it is welcoming to, and of course depends greatly on, the tourists or transients who come through, but the island folks are real. Many are descendents of the Bristish loyalists who needed a place to go during and after the US revolutionary war.

We made so many new friends, many of whom we hope we will run into again during our travels.

Since her twin 1400 horsepower engines needed a bit of airing out , we were afforded a wonderful afternoon cruising up to Spanish Cay with our friends Al and Lisa on board their 80′ Marlow.One of the most amazing things to me about this incredible vessel, is a gadget called a yacht controller.  It is about the size of a TV remote control device, and is completely cordless.  Al was able to walk freely around the deck and singlehandedly dock and undock this small ship with ease, by merely pushing a button or two up or down. I told my son Elliott, much to his dismay, that this device is putting a lot of aspiring deck hands and line handlers out of work.

From Green Turtle we headed to Treasure Cay which lies south of the Whale Cay Passage. We had read and heard many stories about the Whale Cay Passage. It is considered a gateway between the northern and the southern Abacos.  The contour of the ocean floor goes from very deep to very shallow very quickly, so if there is are significant winds blowing the ocean can rage there.  We were advised that there is no question that you must wait until a calm day to attempt that move.

A few years ago Disney had bought a portion of Guana Cay to develope into a private retreat for  cruise ships to bring their passengers. Many millions of dollars were spent , channels dredged, and infrastructure built without consideration of the Whale Cay Passage. It wasn’t long before Disney abandoned their efforts, since having to wait days for the weather to be calm enough for a passage, was just not economically feasible. Wouldn’t you love to know where the executive is today,who made the decision to move forward with the plans without proper thought? We obviously waited for a calm day, and Southern Trawl managed 6′ swells of the passage just fine.

Treasure Cay is actually a development that is located on Great Abaco Island, which locals call the mainland. One of her most beautiful features is an incredible 3 mile long, powder soft, white sand beach. We arrived the day before a front moved in, which afforded us the opportunity for a long walk the length of the beach, around the north tip, enjoying the quiet before the storm and dramatic color changes as the winds increased and the storm clouds gathered.We picked up a mooring on the leeward side of the island, so the strong winds were not a problem for us.

We certainly are not experts or economists, but it seems like things are very quiet here and business is pretty slow. I’m not just talking and about peacful island quiet. The marinas have plenty of room, the restaurants are not crowded, and many homes are securely closed up. There are plenty for sale or appear to have been boarded up for quite a while. With gasoline prices below $2.00/gallon at home, and under $5.00 here in the islands, it really is surprising  and just doesn’t seem to make sense. One thing we have noticed, as we make our travel plans, is that airfare is pretty high and there are very few airlines and flights from which to choose.

When the winds laid down enough to head out again, we ventured over to Guana Cay, one of Tom’s favorites. He has always said that Guana has the most beautiful beach he has ever seen. The shoreline is a rolling high ridge and the beach has great coral sections, giving the glorious blue green water a chance to break bright white along the edges. Place that under an expansive royal blue sky with billowing cotton ball clouds and it’s hard to argue his point.

 

 

The fact that Guana is also home to the legendary Nippers Bar doesn’t hurt its appeal. Nippers is a lively place with many levels of colorful decks, pool and restuarant. We enjoyed the ever popular Wild Hog Sunday buffet.

 

After I had enjoyed a calming hour of sunrise yoga on the sundeck, we took the dinghy ashore for Tom to get in a run.

 

 

Some of the best things about the island life are the people and animals we see along the way who remind us of home, bring back precious memories of our happy child rearing days and how lucky we are to be able to enjoy these times.

This is how we are ending ours.

We were absolutely delighted to experience this colorful very inclusive annual community celebration of Junkanoo. Green Turtle Cay is unique among the islands. There is so much love and acceptance and sharing among the locals and the visitors, or the “been heres” and the “come heres” as we say in Charleston.

 

 

The entire population of the island, along with many who had come over by ferry, had gathered down in New Plymouth to enjoy the parade. We had planned to walk the 3 miles from Green Turtle Club but, as is the island way, we didn’t get far before someone in a golf cart stopped to give us a lift into town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had come through Nassau on our way back to Green Turtle after our trip home for Christmas. Nassau hosts a huge Junkanoo celebration that goes on all night long on New Years Eve. They have tens of thousands of people cramming into the streets. During our brief overnight stay, we saw scaffolding and fences that had been set up to control the anticipated traffic and crowds. We were all too happy we would miss that chaos and hurried on our way to make it back to the sweeter, more manageable , but no less exciting version of the celebration,  right here on Green Turtle.

 

 

We recognized so many faces we’ve come to know, that felt like it was a homecoming for us. It’s impossible to recreate the energy, and excitement of the day but hopefully these pictures and videos will give you the general  idea.

This New Year’s day celebration was certainly a break from our normal traditions, and we were delighted to share the cultural excitement of the Bahamas.

 

We have heard several explanations as to what the parade means or symbolizes one version is that the parade is meant to “Drive the devil out of the town”. The parade route circumnavigates the entire New Plymouth settlement, and the music and dancing goes on for over two hours until the entire entourage completes the loop back into the community basketball court. At that time, the announcer calls all of the children to gather around for a special “surprise”, and right then a horrible monster, or devil leaps out of hiding and begins to chase the children around. Of course the older children think it is exciting and fun, the younger ones are scared to death and cling to their parents. The only way to get rid of the “devil” is to give money, which will then be used to support the local schools. What a great idea!