Paperbird

We finally made it to the tropics! Well, just barely. The Tropic of Cancer, the northern boundary of what is officially called the tropics, passes right through the middle of Long Island.  And it was definitely worth the effort.  It’s a beautiful, friendly and relaxing place.

Long Island sustained quite a bit of damage from hurricane Joaquin and they are still rebuilding. Some things won’t ever be rebuilt since they are just gone. We spent some time talking with locals who described the 36 hours the hurricane sat over the island. Not a pleasant memory! Hurricane Matthew then added to the work load this year.

But the people, like most Bahamians, are resilient and still very pleasant and welcoming. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and would love to come back!

 

 

He quieted the sea with his power

 

We tried to go from Eleuthera to Cat Island, but no such luck. If the winds were right to go there, they were wrong to stay there. If the wind was right to be there, it was on the nose so very difficult to get there. Oh well. So we headed across the Exuma Sound to the Exumas and worked our way down to Georgetown. From here, it’s a more favorable angle to head over to Long Island and then, perhaps, up to Cat. We’ll see.  The wind and the weather rule!

 

Rays waiting for a handout under the fish cleaning station at Black Point.

Paperbird at anchor in Black Point

Yes, we had fresh Mahi for dinner our first night in Georgetown

A good samaritan helped us across the harbor when our dinghy engine wouldn’t start (bad gas). God Bless you, John!

Ron and Kathy, friends from Stormy Petrel, sailing by to say hello

Ron & Kathy sailing back to their boat

Sand Dollar Beach, our anchorage in Georgetown.

 

He quieted the sea with his power

We are now in Black Point in the Exumas. They are really friendly and the harbor is beautiful!

The challenge in the Exumas is finding a place to hide out from cold fronts. When the winds clock, there are very few spots that offer 360 protection. In this case, the winds are forecast to stay NE so we only had to find good protection from one direction. And Black Point offers great protection and very solid holding for the anchor. There are probably 25 boats here with the same idea. So here we all sit, while the wind blows 30 with higher gusts and supposed to be that way for 3 days! So it’s a good time to relax, read a book, and eat through some of  the snack provisions.

 

 

He quieted the sea with his power

 

The name of Eleuthera derives from eleutheria, meaning freedom. A group of religious colonists were shipwrecked on a reef now called Devils Backbone (ironic, huh?) and named the island Eleuthera. The more we dig, the more we learn the rich history of these islands.

As we have been able to move south along Eleuthera this week we are now enjoying Rock Sound. A beautiful waterfront and really friendly people. We pass Bahamians along the road when we are walking and say “hello” and they call out “have a wonderful day in Eleuthera”!

We met up with another cruising couple from a boat named Hold Fast who have been coming here for several years. We went to church with them on Sunday and then shared some great times together. Turns out we had met them briefly 2 years ago in Elizabeth City, NC. Since then we’ve followed their blog as they’ve worked with local church congregations and volunteered in the schools here and other settlements. Hopefully our wakes will cross again in the future!

 

 

He quieted the sea with His power

We crossed from Vero Beach FL to the Bahamas and anchored off of Green Turtle Cay. If there’s a choice, we always prefer to eat at local places.  Sometimes the names are pretty interesting. Our first stop this year was 2 Shorty’s, a spot the postal office woman told us about. We spent some time in Marsh Harbor meeting up with cruisers and locals that we remembered from the last couple of years down here.

Two years ago, we happened to be in Man 0 War for their annual island-wide flea market. This year, the calendar worked in our favor again and we were able to enjoy it again. People come by ferry from all the islands around the Bahamas for the flea market. The proceeds go to help fund the local elementary school. With a usual population of only 300, Man o War sure puts on a great flea market with lots of food! We had a great time catching up with both cruisers and locals that we had met before.

After the flea market, we moved over by Mermaid reef and then down to Lynyard Cay to stage for leaving the Abacos and heading farther south. The next fair weather day we left Lynyard Cay and sailed to Royal Island, Eleuthera, continuing on to Hatchet Bay to ride out a nasty front that brought wind and rain along with some lightning that fortunately stayed far enough away to not be a threat.

Hatchet Bay is a fascinating anchorage. It used to be an deep inland lake separated from the ocean by a narrow rock wall. Someone blasted a slot in the wall to open up the lake as an anchorage. The intent was to use it for a shipping point for a ranching operation. Alas, that operation failed, but the anchorage remains and is now billed as “The world’s safest anchorage.” Not sure we agree since the bottom is deep and boats have a tendency to drag. But there were about a dozen boats here that all did fine in the blow.

 

 

He quieted the sea with His power

 

Two years ago, we met David Wright, a local boat restorer. He had purchased a 1964 Abaco built schooner and brought it back from the Caymans.

As the story goes, the purchase price was to payoff the bar tab of the owner and the crew consisted of more pumps than people.

When we met David, he had just recaulked the hull to, in his words, keep the sea out. Last year we stopped by Man o War and spent some time catching up with David again. He told us the next step was to restore the topsides to keep the rain out.

This year’s progress report is that he has indeed glassed in the cabin tops and is ready to start on the interior. In the meantime, the owner of a large schooner that went on the rocks in Canada has decided to donate all the rigging to David’s restoration effort. Thats 2-1/2 tons of masts, spars, rigging and sails. So David is now raising funds to pay for the $12,000 shipping cost.

Maybe next year the William H Albury will be back in sailing trim!

 

But if not…

We’re back in the beautiful Bahamas!! We forget how beautiful it is until we see the brilliant blue again!! We are back in the islands for the season. We are enjoying meeting new cruisers and catching up with friends from past years. When we get stronger wifi we’ll post more pictures.

 

He quieted the sea with his power

 

The mooring field at Vero is actually very picturesque.  Quiet, well protected and full of dolphins! Early this morning we watched these dolphins swim past our boat. We see them often and never tire of watching them! Sorry Becca, we still haven’t seen any alligators or crocodiles but we are keeping an eye out for them.

Blessed with another beautiful morning!

 

He quieted the sea with His power

Vero Beach FL is known by cruisers as Velcro Beach because…..

The city marina has 57 mooring balls and they double and even triple boats on them so they are very rarely completely full. They have great facilities. Nice showers and laundry room. You can drop off your propane tank and pick it up full the next day and the dinghy dock has water at it to fill jugs so you can fill the water tanks on your boat. The beach is a 10 min walk from the marina but there is a FREE city bus that stops at the marina. So getting to the beach or grocery store or boat store or restaurants or really almost anywhere is easy. Thus it is called Velcro….lots of people get here and never leave for the winter. Oh and it is 75 to 80 degrees all winter!!!

We have found it a great place to sit out some windy weather and wait for parts to come in to fix our alternator/regulator. We went in to the office to get one of the parts that came in and couldn’t believe how much mail there was….the guys that work in there said they told the UPS driver they were building a boat one part at a time. It sure looked like it!

On Saturday there is a huge farmers market with everything from home made sausage to hand made wooden chairs and everything in between! We wandered past every tent just looking and enjoying the sunshine.  We crossed the street to see what the conditions looked like out on the ocean and the red flag was flying! Really rough seas out there….so it’s ok to stay velcroed here for a little longer!!

 

 

 

He quieted the sea with His power

 

 

The week after Christmas was filled with lots of play time with the grands. It got chilly and windy so we found some inside things to do.

 

 

He quieted the sea with His power