December 19, 2005
Happy Holidays
Holy cow!
Hard to believe the Holidays are upon us.
Last year, December 4th, we threw our Bon Voyage party at my sister, Jane's house.
And December 10th, we left for a week of intense sailing courses in the Virgin Islands.
And December 22nd, we left Canada to spend Christmas in London with Chis' twin, Eliz, daughters Madeleine and Georgiana, and other sister Trish. Then New Years with Jim & Luc in Paris. Then on to La Rochelle, France to pick up Platina.
Wow! A little Atlantic crossing, the Caribbean, the US east coast, then back into the Bahamas. 9,300 nautical miles, and counting!
It is raining, windy and a storm threatens tonight and tomorrow. It ain't snow, and we ain't shovelin'. We plan to leave on the tail of a cold front to sail south the Georgetown. There we will spend Christmas.
While in Marsh Harbour this week, we trailed 600 tiny multi-coloured Christmas lights up to the top of the mast. I plugged them in to a cheap Radio Shack 12-volt DC transfomer. We can't just plug them in on the boat, because Platina is wired 220-volt, not the North American standard 110-volt. Nothing is easy when you live on a boat. We turned on some Christmas music and enjoyed the lights. Many of the boats in the harbour had done the same.
Ours lasted about 10 minutes. I blew the fuse on the transformer. Trying to find a replacement fuse in the Bahamas is like trying to send an overloaded canoe out to sea. It just isn't going to happen.
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE. HAPPY HOLIDAYS.
Posted by dave at 06:57 PM | Comments (0)
Question?
We heard this one on this morning's Cruisers' Net, VHF Channel 68:
"Why is it that you point at your wrist when you ask what time it is, but you don't point at our crotch when we want to know where the bathroom is?"
Ahhh, this is the life!
Posted by dave at 05:08 PM | Comments (0)
December 17, 2005
Email in the Anchorage
Who woulda thought? A strong wireless signal in the middle of the Marsh Harbour anchorage? This is better than the States!
Posted by dave at 09:06 AM | Comments (0)
N26.3 W77.0 Marsh Harbour, Abacos, Bahamas
Sunset in Marsh Harbour. We went in at high tide. Being just a day or two past the full moon, tides are extreme. By low tide at 2:47pm, we were sitting on the bottom. Luckily there was no wind and not a ripple on the water, so we sat tight. We will move in the morning.
We are planning our next major move to Eleuthra. Southbound.
Posted by dave at 09:02 AM | Comments (0)
December 14, 2005
We Love it Here
Two things have struck us about the Abacos. Golf carts and community.
First, the golf carts. They're everywhere. Most of the cays in the Abacos are very small. Guana Cay for example is about 5 miles long and half a mile wide. So a car is really not necessary. They're everywhere. And they go slowly, so there aren't traffic jams, or accidents. And at night, they go reaaallly slowly, because you never know who's been havin' a few at Nipper's!
Second, community. At 8:15am on Channel 68 on the VHF radio, the Cruisers Net. The agenda? Weather, news (including major world stock indices, gold prices, political stuff, etc.), announcements about local events (like the tree lighting at Green Turtle Cay tomorrow night and the Junior Junkanoo on Saturday), questions & answers, trivia and other stuff you need to know to enjoy the Abacos.
Our North American cell phones don't work, internet is scarce, and public telephones are virtually non-existent. The VHF radio is it.
We enjoy our coffee and listen to the Net. It wakes Chis. I wake with the sun at 5:30. But then, I fade at 9pm. What day is it again?
Posted by dave at 07:00 PM | Comments (0)
December 12, 2005
N26.4 W77.1 Guana Cay, Abacos, Bahamas
From Green Turtle Cay heading south, we needed to head briefly out into the mighty Atlantic Ocean to avoid a massive shallow shoal. This cannot be done everyday because of "rage" seas. We had a window, so away we went.
In the early 1990s, cruise ships dredged a channel into Loggerhead Channel to gain access to Guana Cay and its outstanding beaches. Oh, and the third largest barrier reef in the world. The cruise ships abandoned the ingress because of rough seas during the winter. The channel has not been maintained since the mid-90s.
The north end of Guana Cay is called Baker's Bay, used by beach partiers from the cruise ships. It was sold in the late 1990s to a developer. A golf course and gated community was planned, but the local residents were, and still are, strongly opposed. They worry about fertilizers from the golf course leaching into the reef. And so they should be.
A popular spot on Guana Cay is Nippers. We had to go. It has a sand road leading to it, multi-coloured painted fence, pool, bar, resto and shop (for those tacky thong undies).
And the most amazing vista from atop a sand dune over spectacular white sand beach. Isn't he handsome?
Posted by dave at 07:25 PM | Comments (1)
December 11, 2005
Bay Street?
Here's one for our friends in Toronto. Is that Bay & Key West? Where the hell is that? Oh, about half a block from Sid's Grocery, 2 blocks from the post office and somewhere south of the US border. No bank in site. And no lawyers! Good thing, it just might make us miss the big city.
Posted by dave at 06:59 PM | Comments (0)
December 10, 2005
N26.5 W77.2 Green Turtle Cay, Abacos, Bahamas
Spanish Cay was cute, but small and uninteresting. We decided to head for Green Turtle Cay. We anchored off the town of New Plymouth, known in history for the "wreckers" that returned with bounty from shipwrecks offshore. We had lunch at The Wrecking Tree, the location where all of the bounty was laid out to be catologued and valued. The "wreckers" were paid half the value. Not bad. The tree is still there, a bit bound by the deck, and a bit weathered by this season's hurricanes.
Posted by dave at 06:51 PM | Comments (0)
December 09, 2005
N27.0 W77.3 Spanish Cay, Abacos, Bahamas
Finally, the cold front moved back north and out to sea. Heavy rain, lots of wind, and dampness. The skies cleared, the wind dropped, and it was like someone fired a starting pistol. All but 1 boat in the anchorage evacuated to head for anywhere but stormy here. One after the other, we scurried like ants.
We decided to head for Spanish Cay, where we could clear Customs & Immigration. We arrived just before "she" hopped the ferry for the mainland. She was pleasant, collected our US$300 for the one-year cruising permit, and scampered away. We went back to the boat before the sunset, and enjoyed a quiet, windless night on anchor.
Posted by dave at 06:43 PM | Comments (0)
December 08, 2005
N27.0 W78.1 Great Sale Cay, Abacos, Bahamas
We had to tear ourselves away from Fort Lauderdale. A familiar place, we have developed several wonderful friendships there. But, after 5 months in the U.S., and all but 10 days in marinas (and putting a serious dent in the bank), we were longing to move on to the peace and tranquility of anchoring in a secluded cove.
“They” say that if you stand on Fort Lauderdale Beach and look out across the Florida Straits and see any commotion in the sea, don’t go. They call the surge created by north winds hitting the northbound Gulf Stream “grey elephants”. We finally got a southeast wind for our northeast passage to the northernmost part of the Bahamas. We sailed overnight to arrive at the Little Bahama Bank for daybreak. We had wonderful winds until we got to the bank, then no wind at all. Once on the bank, we enjoyed beautiful warm sunshine and the turquoise waters that we so badly missed. Straight east across the bank, we arrive at our anchorage around 2pm. We set the anchor, put Platina to sleep, and enjoyed the sound.
The sound of the world. Om. The sound of all sounds. The sound of the Universe. The sound of creation. The beginning of life.
Chis and I were talking today about how we would explain living on a boat at anchor. It’s very different from marinas – nobody wanders up to admire the boat, nowhere to plug in, no restaurants to wander to, no shops, no movie theatres, no cable TV, no internet. Marinas are in populous places, with familiar noises. Sirens, car engines, voices, music…
But the sounds are different. Like getting used to the sounds in a new home. The anchor chain makes funny pinging noises. The water curls around the boat, making strange sounds. Bubbles break under the boat.
We have decided that we are definitely “cruisers”, not marina rats. There is a sense of survival here. Uninhabited island, no noise, we make our own water, we make our own power, we cook our own food. Is there anything else?
We followed two other boats into the anchorage, and shortly 4 others joined us. It is a large anchorage, and our deep draft keeps us on the outside. We swam, we snorkeled, we had an early dinner of bacon-wrapped filet mignon on the BBQ, Dijon mustard oregano baby potatoes (credit to Luc), stir-fried veggies, and salad. We watched Polar Express, and fell sound asleep.
Following a big breakfast Monday morning, we set to inflate the dinghy, clean fenders of the marina scum we had collected, and various other boaty chores. We were done by noon, in time for the cold front to move in. We went from no wind to 20 knots in under an hour. The clouds rolled in, and several east-bound boats entered the anchorage to get protection from the northerly winds. This proved to be a very strong cold front that stalled over us for 4 days. We saw 45 knot gusts, but not much more.
Another front will be upon us in a couple of days, and we have not yet cleared Bahamas Customs & Immigration. We hope to make Spanish Cay on Friday, where we will clear in. Meanwhile, I will finish Strip Tease by Carl Hiaasen. Yes, the Demi Moore movie. A much funnier book!
Posted by dave at 06:36 PM | Comments (0)