January 11, 2012

We have spent the last few days relaxing by the pool and being fed by Auntie Marsha, not a bad way to pass some time. I have also been making myself and my family crazy with pregnancy mood swings. I have been trying to clean out the boat of unnecessaries. We have always prided ourselves on the fact that we have been able to live a minimalistic lifestyle, but apparently it wasn't that hard to accumulate more stuff.
We rented a minivan to haul a lot of stuff over to my Dads...we are also here for Jodi's Birthday. Happy Birthday Grammy!
I am feeling a lot better having had gotten the boat organized and clean. I still have some more cleaning to do, but I feel more accomplished at least!

January 8, 2012- North Palm Beach

Sunrise....

to sunset!

We had a great crossing. We left Great Sale Cay at about 7am, we had a hard time receiving on the HF radio to get the weather, and we did need fuel so we decided to go to West End to fuel up and double check the weather before we were to head into the Gulf Stream.
The trip to West End was one of our best days yet out on the boat...beautifully sunny, warm, and flat calm water.
We arrived at West End at 3:30ish, filled up with diesel, checked the weather which called for 5 knots NNE winds, and decided we would go for it. The weather couldn't have been better. We had a clear skies with light variable winds, and an almost full moon that was so bright it was casting shadows. We could see a 360 degree view of the horizon. Chris stayed up all night, I woke up at 12:30am to give him a break, but he couldn't seem to fall asleep. I am pretty sure it was all the diet coke that he drank and not his trust in my judgement.
Of course, when we were at West End when I checked the weather I also glanced at our emails, and noted that there was one from our broker that said "call me". There was a bit of a rush to get us off the dock, because there were so many boats coming in to check in, that I forgot to mention it to Chris until we were out of the channel and heading West. Once I told him about it, we both started to get uneasy thinking that the boat deal might be off. So, we turned around so we could pick up the internet connection again and check the emails after much heightened emotions. The email turned out to be an update on the survey date, so we turned back around and made a course for Lake Worth. We would have been quite angry if we had come all the way back to the States to find out that we didn't have to. We do feel fortunate that the boat has a buyer already, but we would have like to spend more time and see more of the Bahamas.
Bittersweet!

Janurary 7, 2012

Well, I know some of our family is nervous about us because we haven't been in touch. We have not had internet service in about a week, we haven't been able to get online since we left Black Sound. The provider that we were using just doesn't work well in White Sound, and to say that it works a little bit would be a gross overstatement.
The other down side is that there is no free wi-fi on the island. You either need to stay at a marina, or pay $5 for 5 mins in the realtors office and their service isn't that fast either. Sorry family!
Anyway, we anchored off of Great Sale last night and have made a quick stop in West End to fuel up before we cross. We should pull into Lake Worth sometime tonight, and tomorrow we should be able to receive texts and phone calls. See you soon!

January 5, 2012

We had one last great dinner with our new friends the Lowe Family, and we will head out tomorrow early for Great Sale Cay. The winds are supposed to be light and variable for the next few days and we should be able to cross with out any problems.
I am truly sad to be leaving Green Turtle Cay. We have met so many great people, and Deason and Dahlia seem to like it just as much if not more than we do. We will definitely be coming back to Green Turtle.
On the bright side of things, the Lowe's are going to Disney next week for vacation and we might just sneak up there if we get back in a timely manner to go and visit with them again.

January 4, 2012

Wow...the winds were strong. It was similar to when we were in Beaufort and we had that strong front come through. The winds for this front were sustained at 30 knots with more than a few gusts over 40 knots. The winds started to pick up late Monday night, and by Tuesday morning they were really strong, but at least with these strong fronts don't last that long. Today the winds were back down to 15 knots.
We were completely boat bound yesterday, we played monopoly, and watched movies. I have gotten use to the strong winds and especially in White Sound know that the holding is really good so I don't worry as much as I use to about dragging. It still doesn't make it that easy to sleep soundly, when the wind is howling, the lines are slapping against the boat, and the constant jerking motion of the boat tugging on the chain makes for a very restless night. Although, the kids never seem to be affected by it, they slept all night long.
The forecast for this weekend looks good so far and we might be able to start making our way back west to Florida.

January 2, 2012

We did get a chance to meet the owner of the mooring that we were on, he came out to the boat and he and Chris talked for a good half hour. The rates here are really reasonable, $10/night. Especially considering that there wasn't much room to anchor this week due to the increase of people here for Junkanoo and New Years.
Even thought it was such a good rate for the mooring, the owner had people coming in this week so we moved the boat today back to White Sound. The wind is suppose to be 25-30knots with Gale force gusts tomorrow, and we do feel better at anchor. I know that sounds strange, but at least we know what is holding us in place. With a mooring, you are trusting your boat to someone elses gear and upkeep of that gear.
There are rumors all the time about mooring lines letting go. How much of those rumors are true remain to be seen, it is always from someone who knew someone who knew someone...rather that an actual person to person story. Still, at least we know our anchor has held us in strong winds before and will continue to if set right.
This front that is suppose to move in tomorrow is suppose to die down by Wed night, not quite sure what is going to happen with the weather after that, but we will try to head out as soon as it looks like we will have a few good days.

January 1, 2012

Jukanoo was much better than I had expected...not that I didn't expect to have a good time. It was suppose to start at 2pm and of course they were on Bahamian time (which is what all the locals were saying) and didn't start until 4pm. We didn't mind the wait too much, there was plenty to see and good food to eat.
I was most impressed with the costumes, they were so intricate and colorful they seemed to radiate "Bahamas". The young kids that were in the parade dancing and playing the drums were a highlight too.
We stayed up for the fireworks, but we were too tired to go to town to watch them, so we just watched from the boat. We were still able to see them, albeit probably not as well as we would if we were in town. Of course, right after the fireworks we were all in bed. In the past 5 years the only time I have stayed up till midnight to ring in the New Year was when I was at work and HAD to remain awake all night. Otherwise, the morning seems just as good a time to welcome the New Year as midnight....in my opinion.