Monday, December 29.  We left Cape Eleuthera marina, having fueled up and watered up; our destination was Little San Salvador (aka Half Moon Cay).  The winds were blowing harder than forecast and from a more southerly direction which made the first 4 miles of the trip fine, but after that we were heading almost directly into the wind.  We tacked back and forth for a couple of hours but soon decided that with squalls on the horizon we should postpone our trip until tomorrow so we headed for Davis Harbor, the only decent anchorage along the south-western shore of Eleuthera.

We enjoyed the sail and the practice of tacking but around 1pm decided to motor-sail the final 4 miles to our destination.  Kathi had been fishing, Kiwi was below in her typical hidy-hole that she uses when the engines get turned on.  As we are nearing the breaks between deep water (3000 feet) and the shallow banks (30 feet) the fishing rod starts to sing.  Kathi grabs the rod, I throttle the engine back and Kathi lands a 3-4 foot barracuda.  Not what we were hoping for since we won’t eat it but still fun to catch.  Kiwi hears the commotion topside and comes up to see what’s happening.  Kathi releases the barracuda and we get motoring back on our track.

By this time, we are about a mile offshore and coral heads are prevalent in the area.  I tell Kathi to take watch on the bow so that she can see any shallow coral heads that we might need to avoid. I toss Kiwi back downstairs so she is out of our way but she runs back up and follows Kathi out of the cockpit.  She then jumps up on the dodger and back on top of the bimini.  I’m too busy trying to steer the boat, watching depths to think more than “If you go overboard, cat, you deserve it.”

About 10 minutes later, we are on a good course to make it into the anchorage.  I tell Kathi to take the helm so I can get set up for anchoring.  I tell her to watch out for Kiwi, she’s on top of the bimini.  I take a quick look for Kiwi and see that she is no longer there, and I didn’t see her jump down.  Immediate panic sets in as we know she has gone overboard.  Kathi takes a quick look downstairs to make sure she didn’t go below and I turn the boat 360 degrees to start a search along our track.  The odds of seeing a 4 inch round head in the water with 2-3 foot swells is like looking for a needle in a haystack.  We search for about 40 minutes then decide that it is a lost cause and we need to get the boat to the anchorage before the threatening squalls hit us.  After we get anchored, we put the dinghy down, go back out to search again because we can’t just give up.  After another 30 minutes of searching, with rain starting to fall, we head back to the boat, our hearts heavy, and guilt and sorrow setting in.  

We talk about the good things we shared with Kiwi and feel bad that she met a sad ending.  John lays down to deal with his sorrow.  He’s seen before when she’d gone into the water the look of terror on her face just before being rescued.  He can’t get that thought out of his head.   Kathi goes into the cockpit to read and forget her sorrow.  Kathi suggests we play a game so we play an entire tournament of cribbage.  Neither of us felt like cooking, so we just heated up some leftovers.  Around 6pm, about 5 hours after Kiwi “went overboard” we hear the tinkle of the bell around her collar.  Of course we both heard Indi’s bell for over a month after she passed so Kathi yells, “John, John,” and I rush on deck to see Kiwi sitting on top of the Bimini.  Kathi asks me if she is seeing things or had she had too much to drink or was Kiwi really just sitting on top of the bimini.  You can’t believe the hugs we tried to give the little sh*t.  Apparently, she had climbed into the boom, which is essentially a hollow tube, and had finally decided to rise from her nap. We are thrilled to have her back.  Unfortunately, we wonder if the inevitable was just pushed back because she is fearless and reckless.  Two traits not so good for a boat cat.  We just have to wonder what new trials and tribulations she has in store for us.  Certainly a night of emotional roller coasters.

Tuesday, December 30:  With a full compliment of crew, we motor-sailed to Little San Salvador, aka Half Moon Cay.  The Cay was renamed after Holland America Cruise Line bought the Island to use as a destination.  A cruise ship was in the anchorage so we took an alternate anchorage and then went for a snorkel.  We knew the big ship would be leaving this afternoon and we could then move to the more protected spot.  We drifted over the reef towing the dinghy as the reef went from 6 feet to 60 feet of depth.  As we got to the deeper water we spotted a couple of sharks, tuna, amberjack and grouper cruising along.  The clarity and color of the water is amazing!  The shallower water is bright turquoise while the deep water, which goes to over a 1000 feet deep less than a mile offshore is cobalt blue.

On Tuesday the 23rd, We took the dinghies to shore to walk around the island and explore the ruins of a private estate built in the 30’s.  According to Explorer Charts and other references, a big development was planned here including a resort, villas, golf course and marina to be completed in 2010, but very little development has occurred and the island is virtually uninhabited except for a few fishing shacks and a resort with no guests and only minimal maintenance and security employees. The private estate used to be a large pineapple plantation and you can tell from what is left of the structures and the materials used, including some very fancy tile, that it was quite something in it’s day.  There is no evidence of pineapples any more and the estate is even more run down and full of graffiti

than it was last time we were here. We spent the evening charging up the batteries by running the generator and watching a few episodes of Sea Patrol.

The 24th brought increased winds and cloudy skies as predicted.  I went paddle boarding around the harbour and went over to the inlet to see what it looked like on the outside and was glad that we are tucked in a protected harbour.  While I had the paddle board out, I thought I would start getting Kiwi used to riding it so we put her in her pet carrier and placed it on the board, but John opened the door to her pet carrier when we were ONLY 10 feet away from Makani and she flew through the air and landed back on the boat.  We are constantly amazed at how far she can fly.  Of course she went into one of her many hiding spots and was not about to gives us a second chance today.  We spent most of the day playing a cribbage tournament and reading. John had promised me buttermilk pies for Chrismas since we couldn’t find the ingredients for them at Thanksgiving.  When we went into Spanish Wells, we couldn’t find buttermilk.  I was dissappointed as I was sure I was not going to get my buttermilk pie.  When we returned to the boat, I looked up how to make buttermilk and found a simple recipe which called for 1/4 cup lemon juice and 3/4 cup milk and in 15 minutes you have buttermilk.  I couldn’t believe it and told John, but he was very unwilling to try it and made up all sorts of excuses as to why he didn’t want to do it.  Some of his excuses were legitamate like because we couldn’t find buttermilk at the store, we did not buy the pie crusts or the vanilla that we needed to make the pies.  Also, we have no pie tins on board.  Mostly he did not want to alter his family recipe and take the chance that it would ruin a memory of something that tastes so good.  He was pretty adamant that he did not want to make the pies so I told him “fine, I’ll make them”.  This required that I make the pie crusts from scratch, the buttermilk from scratch, borrowing some vanilla and a pie tin from Lindy and baking the pies the night before so John could decide if they were up to his standard before serving them to guests. Lindy only had one pie tin, so I had to bake the second pie in our frying pan.  THEY WERE DELICIOUS! Almost as good as when John makes them.

Christmas day 2014.  Spent the entire morning deep cleaning the house partly because we were having guests, but mostly because it made me feel good to have the house super clean again.  John did all the prep work for dinner: prepare the dressing, stuff the turkey, put the green bean casserole together. The table settings looked incredible with the entire set of my new dishes layed out. Our guests arrived at 3pm and we enjoyed the “starters” they prepared.  Dates wrapped in bacon.  They also brought roasted potatoes and carrots and we sat down for a huge Christmas feast at 3:30pm.  We were trading sailing stories when I decided to go up on deck and when I did, I heard Kiwi crying. I followed the mews and found her hanging from the bottom support for the bow sprit in the water. She looked like a drowned rat and I yelled for John and he grabbed the net while Barry got in his dinghy and started to pull up to her, but she let go of the cable and swam for Barry’s dinghy and jumped in.  This is her fourth time she has gone into the pool without a lifeguard on duty. We have no idea how long she had been hanging there.  We were playing Christmas music and visiting so no one heard her go in.  Each time she has gone in the water, we have been lucky that there has been no current and the last three times, at least the water is relatively warm, but she obviously is not a fast learner.

Today is totally planned around getting through Current Cut.  Current Cut is a bit of a navigational challenge. It is located at the northwestern tip of Eleuthera and is the gateway to the Bight of Eleuthera.  It has very strong current going through it that propels your vessel straight toward shallow grassy patches so you have to make a hard starboard turn

Bight of Eleuthera

Glass Window

immediately after getting through it, but you have sharp jagged rocks on your starboard side that you can’t get too close to (and believe me they seem VERY close). You have to stay in a very small channel for about another 1/2 mile making 2 zig zag turns with strong current.  The cut is very shallow so you have to time it near high tide or on a rising tide.  We saw depths of 9’8” and it propelled us through the cut at 11knots.  John handled it like a pro.  We then travelled another 90 minutes to a place called The Glass Window.  This site used to be a geological wonder.  An 85’ arch between where the bight of Eleuthera and The Atlantic Ocean almost meet.  In 1926 a hurricane washed away the rock bridge.  It was replaced by a concrete and steel bridge in 1960, but in 1991, that bridge got hit by a rogue wave and it moved the northern end of the bridge 7’ westward.  Seeing the huge rocks from the original arch up to a mile away from the bridge and seeing the current man-made bridge sitting 7’ from it’s original site makes your mind reel realizing the forces of nature.  Also, can you

Now a one lane bridge

Atlantic side

 

Entrance to Hatchet Bay

imagine a bridge in America that has been moved 7’ at one end only and DOT coming in and saying it’s ok, we’ll just keep on using it, only now it is a single lane bridge (see pics). It was truly an amazing thing to see.  You look to the east and see cobalt blue water of the Atlantic and then look to the west and see the turquoise water of the Bight of Eleuthera.  We had to make a decision to stay anchored here for the night or move on to Hatchet Bay in Alice Town.  We checked the weather report again and it looks like we have a run of good weather in the foreseeable future and we want to get to as many of the Far Bahama Islands as possible so we decide to move.  The entrance to Hatchet Bay is another place where you need good navigational skills. It is 90’ wide channel that was blasted through sheer rock so you have cliffs and jagged rock on each side of you and then long jetties well into the harbour.  After safely anchoring, we put the dinghy down and went in search of a cave about a mile from the harbour.  We found the cave, but the water was thick with jelly fish.  I could tell the reef was fricking amazing, but my wetsuit does not have sleeves.  I found the jelly fish thinned out the further away from shore so I moved away from the cliffs, but became frustrated because now I couldn’t see the reef.  John had a full wetsuit on, so he was enjoying the sights and I went back to the dinghy and caught up to where he was snorkeling and noticed there were less jelly fish now.  I got back into the water and was able to enjoy about a full 1/2 mile of incredible reef before the jelly fish started getting think again and I could not dodge them.

Saturday morning we got up early and went into Alice town in search of hamburger buns and to just see what there was to see in Alice town which really is not much.  We were unsuccessful in finding hamburger buns or any fresh food for that matter, but we had a nice morning walk. The Bahameins celebrate Junkanoo the day after Christmas and we looked up information on where the celebrations were being held and nothing was said about activities in Alice Town. By the time we heard the noise makers and singing and revelry, we had settled in for the night.  On our walk we saw the aftermath of Junkanoo with liquor bottles and cans all over and masks and confetti and plastic jewelry all over the streets.  Of all the times we have been in the Bahamas, we have never been at the right time or the right place to really see a Junkanoo celebration so we have to make a point of it next year. We had a great sail over to Tarpum Bay where we spent the afternoon reading and playing games.

Kiwi helping John defrost the freezer

Sunday. December 28: Perfect weather for a nice smooth sail.  We decided to stay in a marina so we could top off with fuel and water and get laundry done and have things ship shape before we go offshore and hit some of the Far Bahama islands.  Cape Eleuthera marina is a very nice marina with very nice amenities, but the dockmaster put us in the worst “slip” (actually on a cement wall). With the winds blowing from the south, it pushed the boat up against the pilings all night long so the bumpers squeeked and the boat banged all night. Also the no-see-ums were awful.  You hate to have to smeer yourself with stinky bug spray after taking the first hot shower you have had in a month, but if we didn’t, we both would have been eaten alive. We also wanted to have good internet so that we could catch up and let friends and family know our plans, but their internet was very poor. Overall, we wished that we would have just anchored out and saved our money.

Here we go again, never enough time to catch up on the blog, but plenty of time to socialize, hunt, snorkel, and get prepared to move.

We stayed the night at Armstrong Cay on Thursday the 11th.  We had planned to go into  Abaco Beach Resort and get fuel and water and then move to Lynyard for staging a trip to Eleuthra next Thursday.  Unfortunately we had a critical breakdown on John’s computer which is our 16th backup for navigation AND his ability to keep in touch with his Fantasy Football statistics and his Pirate game, so of course we prioritize going to Marsh Harbour (gotta have that nav backup).  John takes his computer in as well as the propane tank and bats a thousand with getting the tank filled AND getting his computer fixed.

Seaglass.........my precious

We spend the evening calling family and friends with SKYPE basically giving them our float plan for our planned trip to Eleuthra.  

We decide to stay on the back side of Marsh Harbour Friday the 12th so that we can go in on Saturday and do a bit of provisioning and buy some BaTelCo cards that we may not be able to obtain in Eleuthra.  

We were able to find all the fresh food we desired, but the BTC office was closed so we returned to the boat and took advantage of the “free internet” that we copped off of Abaco Beach Resort which is fine with us since they are the marina that put fuel in our water tanks last year and caused us so much grief.

Sunday the 14th. We don’t have plans to go to Eleuthra until Thursday so much of our morning discussion is where should we stay/go until then.  Where the wind and waves will be best for the day and night.  We finally decide (probably based on John’s ability to get the football game tonight) that where we are is just where we need to be.  49ers vs. Seattle. The 49ers lost and it was a bad bad night.  

Can you see the pretty blue marble John found

On Monday the 15th we went in to get some more BTC cards so we can have internet in Eleuthra, but found out they don’t sell the cards any more, now we can just add time via internet.  Of course, like good Americans, we can’t just go back to the boat, we have to stop at the grocery store and be consumer  a…holes and spend over $100.00 on things we don’t really need.

We go back to the boat and call Abaco Beach Resort (yep that’s right) and ask them if we can come in for fuel and water.  We only need 15 gallons of fuel which takes 15 minutes, but we need 80 gallons of water and the hose gives us a gallon per minute so we are on the fuel dock for an hour and a half, but it is a beautiful day and our plans were to fill with water and fuel and then move to Armstrong for the night.  Besides, the fuel went into the fuel tank and the water went into the water tank so all is good.  ALL IS GOOD.

After fueling and watering we head to Armstrong and immediately after anchoring we go to find dinner.

Armstrong Cay is one of the islands we always enjoy anchoring at.  It has good protection from westerly winds and lots of small Cays to the north where you can hunt for fish, lobster and conch.  The area also has a couple of ‘Blue Holes’ that we’ve found.  The ‘Blue Holes’ are 70 to 80 feet deep with the surrounding area only 3-4 feet deep.  It makes for an interesting environment.  We stayed at Armstrong for all of Tuesday and most of Wednesday.  The weather has turned dead calm.  We took Kiwi with us hunting on Tuesday.  At the last Cay, we stopped and let Kiwi go ashore.  She eagerly jumped ashore as the dinghy nosed into the rocks.  The shoreline consists of jagged rocks so we anchored the dinghy about 10 feet away.  We both got in the water looking for lobster. We found one large one but he ducked back into a hole before we could entice him out and get him.  Kathi decided to swim to the next Cay while I went back to the dinghy to retrieve Kiwi from her shore excursion.  When I got back to the dinghy, Kiwi was waiting there, soaking wet.  She decided the island was not for her and either tried to jump back into the dinghy, not making the long jump successfully, or just swam.  At any rate, she was waiting for our return. In checking the weather this evening it looks like our weather window has been pushed back to Saturday or Sunday now.

Teaching Kiwi how to fish

Late Wednesday the 17th, we moved to Lynyard Cay to wait for the proper wind/wave conditions to sail to Eleuthera.  We met another couple on the boat Samarang that were also at Lynyard waiting to do the same crossing.  We joined them for cocktails and traded traveling stories.  The next day, we invited them to join us beachcombing and seaglass hunting on a beach near the north end of Lynyard.  They joined us on our boat that evening for cocktails and to discuss the weather for potential crossings.  The best options continue to look like Saturday evening or Sunday.

On Friday we went to have lunch at Pete’s Pub, a great little beach bar at Little Harbor.  There is also a great seaglass beach about a mile from there that is a nice walk.  We spent about an hour looking for sea glass, getting soaked to the skin from the waves and came away with a nice amount of beautiful glass.  I found a blue marble while Kathi found several beautifully shaped and colored pieces.  We had lunch, our traditional hamburger, since we eat fish so often, then went back to the boat to suit-up to catch our evening meal.  We dinghy’d to the reef at the south end of Lynyard and I speared a foot long Bermuda Chub for our dinner.  We also spotted a 4-5 foot Carribbean Reef Shark cruising the area so we decided that we would look for additional provisions elsewhere.  Kathi speared a big lobster and then a foot long red snapper that had decided to investigate the hole that had just held the lobster - a big mistake for the snapper! After we got back to the boat, Kathi spent some time showing Kiwi how to catch fish using a fishing pole.  Kiwi was fascinated to watch and to play with the fish Kathi caught, then released. We have a kitty game app where Kiwi steps on the fish on our i-pad and the wiggle around. iIt was like watching her play that game in real life.

A pet for our pet

Looking at the weather this morning, we’ve decided to cross to Eleuthera on Sunday, leaving our anchorage around 6am.  The winds may still be too light to sail; if so, we will motor-sail to be sure to make the 56 mile crossing during daylight; at 6 knots it will take us almost 10 hours.  The swells are still projected to be very low, 2-3 feet with 10 second interval so we look forward to a nice smooth crossing with hopefully catching a mahi-mahi along the way.  

Good Bye for now Lynyard

Our last day here in the Abacos, at least for a couple of months, we spent seaglass hunting on Lynyard Cay. Like always, and as it should be, plans set in jello.  Our plans have changed again based on wind and wave charts.  I am getting things prepared to make Lobster nachos while John is on the internet looking at weather and he says “what do you think about taking off now?” We are always less than an hour away from being sail ready so I say why not? I put all the stuff away for lobster nachos and made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  We raised the anchor 20 minutes after John’s suggestion and we are on our way to our next adventure.

After careful consideration, we decided to leave Lynyard late Saturday afternoon, 4:30pm, for our trip to Royal Island, just north of Eleuthera.  The winds are projected to be light, same as tomorrow, the seas very calm, 1-2 foot swells, so leaving Saturday evening allows us ample time to get to our destination before the winds increase and shift to the south on Sunday evening.  We had a great night sail for the most part.  Kathi had the helm until midnight and got in some great sailing, 5-6 knots, right on course.  When John took over, the winds had shifted to the SE so we had to steer off our planned course in order to keep the sails full.  Daybreak found us about 8 miles west of our destination so we moter sailed the rest of the way and reached the anchorage around 7:30am.  Overall, the sail was smooth but could have used a little more wind from the east.  Kiwi handled the crossing perfectly, spending most of the trip in the cockpit with us.  After a couple of hours of sleep, we took the dinghy about 4 miles to explore Egg Island reef.  We saw beautiful reef and on the way back got 2 lobsters to make lobster nachos for dinner.

This is pretty much how we all felt after our overnighter

On Monday the 22nd, we went to Spanish Wells to pick up a few supplies, mainly a turkey to cook for Christmas. We called Barry and Lindy on Samarang and wanted to know if they wanted to join us so they could see Spanish Wells and do any provisioning they might need.  Their boat has a 7 foot draft and the area around Spanish Wells is quite shallow and there was really no reason we needed to take both vessels over. Spanish Wells is about 6 miles to the NE of where we are anchored at Royal Island. The first grocery store only had turkeys too big for our oven, so we walked a mile to the second grocery store and they had 1 turkey that would fit in our oven so we invited Barry and Lindy to our place for Christmas dinner.  They are going to bring some dishes that are traditional for Christmas in the UK. We are expecting strong winds and thunder stroms on Wednesday and our next destination doesn’t have great protection from the southerly winds forecasted so we have all decided to stay at the anchorage at Royal Island where we have very good protection from winds coming from any direction and just chill until after Christmas.

My how time flies.  We stayed anchored just off the south end of Guana near Chandlers house for a second night and again took Kiwi to the island that she couldn’t get into too much trouble.  As rain was predicted and happened, we did not sleep up top. We are really just trying to get exercise every day and think of new things to do when the wind is blowing and you have more food than you can eat on board.

Make your own golf course

As anyone who has visited us knows, the weather almost always determines what we do each day and where we anchor and what island we hide behind, so Tuesday morning we took a bumpy, windy, rainy ride to Snake Cay to try and get out of the weather.  Even if it is bad weather, you never feel it when you are in the water hunting, so that’s what we did.  This is the first time this season that we have looked for lobster and not seen a single one.  We explored the blue hole that we have become familiar with, but mostly just got cold and were anxious to return to the boat.  

Wednesday continued to be cool and we tried our best to get out and do some hunting, but we got cold fairly quickly and had decided on hamburgers for dinner anyhow, so we got back to the boat and started thinking about things to add to our activities when days and days of “bad” weather occur.  We took our golf clubs to the beach and played 18 holes of golf in one of the most beautiful settings in the world FOR FREE.  We took Kiwi with us and after hiding in the brush for some time and giving us a scare, we put her on a long leash and she seemed to enjoy her beach excursion.  Then we played hermit crab olympics and the day turned out to be extremely fun.  When we returned to the boat, a catamaran had anchored near us so we went to say hi to our neighbors.  They are here on holiday and we spoke about making their last few days here EXTREME.  They are from South Africa and we enjoyed conversation and made plans to explore in the morning. 

A great finale to the night was being able to sleep up top with a million stars shining and using the ipad app to learn about the constellations and individual stars.

We'll be great with a sand wedge when we return home

throw your hermit crab into the middle circle and the first one to make it to the outside wins

Thursday morning, the South Africans came over to our boat and we gave them the coordinates of where to find blue holes, lobster, conch and where to anchor to snorkel or dive Sandy Cay.  We all moved to Armstrong Cay to be in the Lee of the west winds and took a dinghy ride to explore some of the shallows behind the islands.  Kathi got two lobsters and could have had more but we didn’t need them for dinner.  The temperature is still unseasonably cool; low 70’s in the day and the 50’s at night.  The water temp seems particularly cold also.  We got back to the boat, had lunch, played a game of scrabble, then Kathi went snorkelling again.  She saw lots of small lobster and a nice conch field that we will take advantage of when we need the food. Tomorrow will be another excursion exploring the shallows behind Armstrong Cay.

Friday morning we got up and threw around the idea of going to No Name Cay just to get out of our lazy and complacent mode and get set up to go through The Whale in the next couple of days.  It has been nice to sit at Manjack and have unlimited internet and the fishing certainly has provided us with all we can eat, but we are anxious to explore new grounds.

A day at the beach will do this to you

Moved to No Name and almost immediately went hunting and got an octopus, a conch and two lobsters.  We saw lots more of everything, but have decided that we know enough places to get fresh meat every day that we are not going to fill the freezer.  Spent Friday and Saturday at No Name.  I tried a new recipe for the octopus, but the consensus is my first recipe is better.  Got the opportunity to sleep on deck under a full moon.

picture out the front door

Got up early Sunday and took a bouncy trip through the Whale. Swells were 4-6 feet, but with a long enough period that it wasn’t too too bad.  Thank goodness that passage is only an hour long though.

my sail repair shop

Anchored at the southern end of Guana near Chandler’s house.  On our sail here, we noticed a few places on the staysail where the protective covering needed to be resewn.  We took the sail down, got out the sewing machine and Kathi completed the repair job in about an hour.   The offshore swells are still too large to comfortably get to the outside reefs in the dinghy.  We still want to get off the boat everyday and get into the water for some swimming exercise.  Near the anchorage is a small Cay, about a half acre in size that we decided would be perfect for Kiwi to explore while we swam.  We want her to be able to run around freely, but not get into too much trouble or get lost.  In the early evening, Chandler came out to the boat to say hi, give us a bunch of lobster and warn us that a strong thunderstorm looked to be moving our way that would be short-lived but very windy.  We enjoyed seeing him and getting the warning. We battened down and played a game of Rumikub.

a pic out the back door. Notice Kiwi

Bahamas Adventure 2014

Bahamas Adventure 2014

Makani Log

Saturday, November 22, 2014

We left the Lake Worth, Florida inlet at 3:30am on Sunday, November 16.  The weather reports showed that we had a short, 1-2  day window of relatively calm weather to cross before the storm that brought so much snow to the upper US brought lots of wind and rough sea conditions to us.  The crossing was probably one of the roughest we’ve had.  The wind and the waves were on our nose and even though the waves were only 3-4 feet with an occasional 5-6 footer, the shortness of the period between them had Makani burying her bowsprit into every fifth wave.  We motored all the way with our staysail out only to help with stabilizing the boat.  Our newest crew member, Kiwi, a 6 month old kitten, tossed her cookies and found a hole to hide in.

The crossing from Florida to the Bahamas Bank is about 10 hours for us.  The waves moderated some about a third of the way into the Gulf Stream and we got into the rhythm of the boat.  After two-thirds of the way across, the weather picked up again and we had our second bout with getting tossed about.  We got to the Banks around 3pm; getting on the Banks is always an experience, going from 2000 feet of water to 20 feet where you can see the sand and grassy bottom.  After getting to the Banks we still had 4 hours of traveling to get to our first anchorage, Mangrove Cay.

Mangrove Cay is a small island with nothing on it but it does provide a tired crew with a spot to anchor, jump in the water to celebrate being in the Bahamas again, and have a relaxing sleep.  The next morning the wind had clocked to the south at 20 knots, so we were able to have a wonderful sail under our staysail and about half of our headsail making between 6-7 knots.  We decided to anchor at Hawksbill Cay, off of Foxtown on Little Abaco Island.  The winds the next day were slated to move to the North at 30-35 knots.

Hawksbill Cay

The next day, Tuesday, November 18, we decided to rent a car, drive to Treasure Cay, about 40 miles away, to get our Bahamas phone activated so we would have internet service.  Hitchhiking is a common practice on the islands.  About a mile from where we rented a car we picked up a 60-70 year old man on his way to Treasure Cay.  Another mile down the road and we picked up 2 more men trying to get to the next town.  After getting to Treasure Cay we waited for the Batelco (Bahamas Telephone Company) office to open.  When they finally opened, about 30 minutes late (It’s the Bahamas after all) we were informed that they would not have any SIM cards (Which is what we needed) until that afternoon.  Instead of waiting we decided to drive to Marsh Harbour, another 20 miles, to get the phone working.  We finally obtained what we needed, headed back to Foxtown and picked up one more person looking for a ride.  After returning the rental car, we got to Makani and moved to a better anchoring spot based on the change in wind direction.

The next day we moved to Crab Cay, and the following day went into the marina at Spanish Cay where we could clear customs and immigration.  We stayed there 2 days, enjoying the island, showers, and hot tub.  On Saturday, November22, we decided we needed to leave.

We anchored at Powell Cay in 20-30 knots of wind.  Since we crossed to the Abacos this past Sunday we’ve only had 1 day where we’ve seen the sun.  Everyday has been blowing over 25 knots.  We’re not complaining though, at least the temperature is in the 70s and we don’t have to contend with snow.  We feel for all of you who are.  After we got anchored, we decided to take Kiwi for her first beach trip and lobster hunt.  We had great luck with lobster, getting all we wanted and seeing about 30 more. Seeing all the lobsters is one of the advantages of getting across early; the hunting grounds are relatively untouched.  Kiwi is already showing herself to be another ‘lobster monster’; scarfing down the lobster snacks we provide for her.

1st of many lobster hunts

December 3, 2014

We stayed at Powell Cay for 3 days, snorkeling each day, playing a game in the afternoon and watching some old TV episodes in the evening.  On the second day at Powell, we got an octopus which Kathi made into her delicious Italian Stewed Octopus dinner.  When we got the octopus, the weather was very windy and the waves choppy.  On the way back to Makani, Kathi's pole spear fell off the dinghy and was lost to the sea.  I blamed it on Poseidon's wrath at our taking the octopus.  We searched for a while that day and again the next day but to no avail. 

1st Octopus of the trip

We moved to Green Turtle Cay on November 25, Kathi's birthday.  John did his "Amazing Amy" impression by hiding clues and presents all around the boat.  

B'day dinner of steak, lobster and baked potato

We took a slip at the Bluff House Marina in White Sound to take on fuel, enjoy hot showers and do a little provisioning.  We rented a golf cart for a day to go into the small town at the other end of the island to purchase a new pole spear and look for a turkey to cook on Thanksgiving.  We weren't successful finding a turkey so had to settle for Cornish Game Hens.  We took our metal detector to a nearby beach, found lots of nails, pop cans, and a quarter.  On Thanksgiving, we had the usual side dishes along with the game hens which came out delicious.  Our plan for the evening was to watch the 49er-Seahawks game but the bar closed before the game started; in retrospect that was a good thing since the 49ers got trounced.

The weather has still not begun to cooperate, blowing 20-30 knots with cloudy skies every day.  The day after Thanksgiving we moved a few miles north to anchor at Manjack Cay.  We've continued to go snorkeling each day, getting lobster when we want and taking photos when we aren't needing to hunt.  In the evenings we play a game of scrabble, rumikub, cribbage or poker and then either watch a movie or read.  We have also been practicing Spanish, practicing knots, and doing small repair/maintenance projects.

We've only taken Kiwi on the dinghy a couple of times because it has been so rough.  She's a bit skittish about getting in the dinghy but has no problem jumping back to the boat when we arrive home.  The last time we took her, I think she jumped back to the boat while the dinghy was still 8 feet away! Kiwi likes to play fetch with her toy mouse.  She brings us the mouse and we throw it and she gets it and brings it back to us for us to throw all over again and again.  Unfortunately, her favorite time to do this is 4a.m.