December 29, 2011

Our time here has been flying by, we have been spending quite a bit of time with our friends...especially Deason. We went to a church social with them the other night and had the best soused chicken, and soused pork. It doesn't sound like it would be as good as it is, but there is something different about it that makes it standout.
Essentially it is pieces of chicken cooked in water with lemon juice, salt, and allspice, and you add carrots, potatoes, and celery...kind of like a chicken soup, but much better. Then they serve it with johnny cakes, which is a dense sweet bread. So good!
We had a great time at the social, and the kids did too. It is sort of like when we were kids, they actually play outside. Even Dahlia was outside with the kids playing while we were inside, and I wasn't worried in the least. She had a least 5 girls willing to hold her hand and play with her, she was in her glory.
It truly is laid back here, we came over to Black Sound after the incident in White Sound, and grabbed a mooring. We had called the marina on the VHF before heading over and they told us to grab the first white ball that we see. So we did. Then Black Sound Marina told us that it is not their mooring, and the marina across from them said that they don't have mooring so we had no idea who's mooring it was. We decided to stay hoping that the owner would turn up and we could compensate him for us being here. We had already been her for a night and a day before he turned up on the dock. We did some loud conversing back and forth, at which point he said that the mooring was indeed for rent, and that he would be by the following day, we have yet to see him again, and we don't know his name. Talk about trusting, we could just pack up and leave, having already stayed three nights, but we would never do that.
We are looking forward to Junkanoo on Saturday, which is a street parade with music and costumes, then followed by fireworks at night. After this weekend we will start making our way back towards the US, we want to ensure that we are not rushed to get back and forced to travel in less than ideal weather.

December 26, 2011-Green Turtle Cay- Black Sound

We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day. We left Hopetown at about 8am with 5 knots or less of variable winds. The water was nearly flat and of course it was crystal clear. For most of the way we were in 15ft of water. We could see every blade of grass, and tons of sea stars that were laying on the bottom, as if we could reach out and touch them.
As we were going around Whale Cay the water got deeper...about 45 ft deep, and we could still see the bottom easily. I spent the day laying on the trampoline looking over the bow at the water. I saw an eagle ray, a good sized nurse shark swimming along the bottom, and a small sea turtle. It was just like being in your own private aquarium....truly amazing. We even caught a small fish while trolling, poor thing must have been really hungry cause our lure was bigger than he was.
We pulled back into White Sound, Green Turtle Cay around noon time to a much more crowded anchorage than we had left it. There was still plenty of room, but it took a little investigating to find a good spot. We also wanted to be a little closer to the marina in hopes that we could get a better wi-fi signal. We found a spot at the very inside of the sound, we backed down on the anchor a few times to make sure it was good and set due to the slightly grassy bottom. As we were getting things settles 4 large parrots flew directly over us...and I was thinking that the day couldn't get any better.
I was right....it couldn't get better, but it could get worse! I noticed a couple approaching us in their tender, and politely waved to them and loudly said "hello". No response...maybe they didn't hear me! So, I waved some more and a little more loudly said "hello" again. At which point the woman's response was..."I just can't believe you anchored here, there is so many other spots to anchor and you chose this spot...it is very poor holding, and we are the boat right there (she points behind us) and we have two anchors out, it is really poor holding, I just can't believe you anchored here...blah blah blah" She continued this same monologue for quite a while. I was so stunned, I just stood there with my mouth hanging open as my blood pressure was climbing to an unsafe level. I couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't have been inappropriate, especially since I was standing there with Deason and Dahlia.
Chris of course chimed in with some good old sarcasm "is it poor holding? How many anchors do you have out?" She didn't get it, her husband did, and turned their tender around and left. The kicker is that they were heading out of the harbor, they stopped to watch to see where we were anchoring, and when it didn't suit them they turned around to come back in and berate us.
We have enough anchoring experience to know what and where is going to be a good spot, after they left Chris took a little swim to see how our gear was laid out, and it was so well buried that we probably would have been safe in a hurricane. Plus, we had already been in White Sound through some pretty decent winds and held just fine. It was obvious that these people thought they had a sweet spot and didn't want us there.
This is where it became a dilemma. Part of us wanted to stay to just bother them as much as they bothered us, but in the end we decided to be the bigger people and leave. So, I am sure they think they won, but we figured my mental state would be far better off the further away from them that we could get. We came over to Black Sound which is closer to our friends anyway!
I must say that this is part of the boat life that I will be glad to leave behind. We have met some great people, but we have met our share of cruisers who we don't care for. For some reason there seems to be a fair amount of people who choose to live on their boats that are entitled know it all's. I won't miss them!

December 25, 2011

We had a really laid back relaxed Christmas Eve. We made cookies for Santa, and played some
games. It was much harder than I had thought it would be to be away from home, we all seemed to have the same feelings of wanting to be home for Christmas. All of the traditions we were use to participating in, we knew that all of our loved ones were at and we weren't. It was a much more upsetting realization than I had anticipated.
We had a very early Christmas. Dahlia was awake sometime between 4am and 5am. I struggled
to keep her in bed past 5am at which point, we were all awake. We were done gifts before the sun even considered rising. Thankfully, Dahlia took an early nap and we were able to spend the afternoon with Uncle Bobby, and Aunt Sherry. It was a beautiful day, and we spent it swimming in their pool, and relaxing. I had to keep reminding myself that it was still Christmas. It was really nice to be able to have that time Bobby and Sherry while they were here, and we will miss them very much!

December 23, 2011

Merry Christmas to us! We have had the most perfect weather for the past two days, and it is supposed to continue through Monday. We have been able to go snorkeling right off the beach here on Elbow Cay.
There are multiple reefs right off the beach that extend in a labyrinth of coral about a half a mile out. The fish are unbelievable! We have seen queen parrotfish, blue parrotfish, multiple species of grouper, and the small reef fish are just as spectacular (don't know all of their names). The colors of blue, yellow, and greens of these fish is amazing. I could spend all day just watching them. The best part is that they seem just as curious about us. You can swim within an arms length of them before they zip into a crevice, only to have them turn right around and peer out at you as you swim by. There are even schools of fish that seemed to follow us around as we were snorkeling just to see what we were about. I just wish that Dahlia knew how to snorkel...she would love it!

December 21, 2011

We had to make water today, but the harbor is less than ideal for water making. So, we took a little trip out of the harbor to the southern end of Elbow Cay. We anchored off of Tahiti beach. At low tide the beach extends pretty far into The Sea of Abaco, where you can walk and collect shells. It was beautiful. The water was a little cold for snorkeling, and I had to wear a wetsuit to get in.

It wasn't long before Uncle Bobby showed up with his boat to take us fishing. We left Never For Granted anchored, and went fishing in Tilloo cut, which is between Elbow Cay and Tilloo Cay. Deason and Bobby caught 3 fish, two were keepers (we think they were grunts), and the only thing Chris or I caught was the bottom. Which caused me to loose the tackle off of the rod I was using.

We got back to the harbor just about 4 pm with a full tank of water. I had made 4 dozen chocolate chip cookies during the afternoon and on our trip back so we could bring them Christmas caroling. There was a huge turn out for caroling, probably about 60 people. We had a great time, the only problem was the roads are so narrow, and we were all stretched out. If you were anywhere near the back of the pack you didn't know what song they were singing until halfway through the song. The fun part was after, they served us all soused chicken (a classic Bahamian dish) and all the goodies everyone brought for dessert.

December 20, 2011

We spent the day at Uncle Bobby's place hanging out by the pool, then we walked down the beach to a little cabana restaurant called "On Da Beach". Which it was! They had great food, and the best view and atmosphere you could ask for. Colorful chairs, brightly painted building, and Island music...perfect! It is just too bad the ocean surf is too big right now, because it looks like it would be a great place to go snorkeling.

December 19, 2011

We had a great day, we had lunch out with Uncle Bobby and Sherry. I really can't get enough of the cracked conch they serve down here. Although, you really can't go wrong with fried food...in my opinion. Chris and Deason did a little fishing off of the dock. We were chumming with the left over french fries, and then Chris actually caught a small fish. The larger ones are smart enough not to take the bait with the hook. Which reminds me very much of the Flying Bridge Restaurant in Falmouth Harbor. They have the biggest striped bass, that are well fed on french fries. I got to catch a pocket book. A young girl had dropped her little bag in the water, and we helped her get it out with our fishing rod.
Later that day we went to Capn' Jacks to play BINGO, or as they call it JACKS, and you have to yell "Jacks" if you win....if you yell "bingo"....you lose. Of course, we didn't win, but we had a blast anyway, and they give a portion of the proceeds to charity. Paul, one of Uncle Bobby's friends actually won a round, and the payoff was pretty nice too.
We are getting real close to Christmas, and we have the lights on the boat, but it is real hard to think about it actually being Christmas while we are still in shorts, bathing suits and flip-flops. We are going caroling on Wednesday...hopefully that will renew the spirit!

December 18, 2011

Before we left the States we decided to put the boat on the market. For a couple of reasons, we figured that we have no idea if we will still want to travel on a boat with a newborn, and we can only assume that the answer to that question will probably be "no". Traveling by boat with small children is not the easiest form of travel. So, rather than have the boat sit on a dock, we decided to try and sell it while everything is working great and hasn't been sitting around wilting. We all know boats like to be used and when they sit around it is when things start to break.
We figured it would probably take a year or so to sell the boat, the boat market being what it is, we wanted to get a jump start. Well, of course we are over here in the Bahamas having a great time and we get an offer on the boat. We came to an agreement and have to be back in Ft. Lauderdale to have the survey and sea trial done on Feb 1, and if everything goes well with the sea trial we will be boatless and homeless.
If this goes through we will stay in Fl to have the baby as planned, then head to the Cape for the summer. If anyone knows of any great Cape Cod (Falmouth) rentals for June through Sept. Let us know!

Dec 17, 2011-Hopetown, Elbow Cay

We have been here for less than a month and our flag is already taken a beating! Thanks wind!







We woke up today and knew it was the day to leave. The forecast was for E winds 10-15 knots, which we realized was probably as good as it was going to get. We left Green Turtle Cay about 9 am after getting all the weather reports and channel reports that we could from the VHF and HF radios. We had signed up for internet service for the week, but we were only able to get on line for very limited periods of time. There were quite a few more boats in the sound than were there last week and it severely effected the internet connection for us, as I am sure they all signed up for the same service.
The passage through Whale Cay Channel wasn't that bad! Especially because it was a rather short distance. Within that area of the Channel there were 6 ft swells with a 5-6 second interval, so we were able to float up and down the swells "fairly" comfortably, although some of the larger swells did look intimidating. The cut that we had to go through (which is the small break in between reefs) to get to the outside and back of Whale Cay looked awful from a distance. The large swells were breaking over the reefs and it didn't look like there was enough room in between for us to safely pass without having a large wave break over our bow, but as we kept getting closer it was clear where the cut was and that we would be fine.
The only exciting thing that happened on our trip through the cut was Dahlia got sick. I am hesitant to think that is was actual sea sickness, because we have been in much worse conditions for much longer periods of time with out her even batting an eye, but today something didn't agree with her. She crawled onto my lap heaved a few times before getting everything up, then she passed out for almost 2hrs and woke up as if nothing was ever amiss!
We got to Hopetown about 2pm, we got a mooring because there is another front coming through tomorrow and there isn't any room to anchor with in the harbor. Plus, it is close to everything.
We got to shore and had to go to a restaurant called Capn' Jacks to get internet service so we could look up the name of where Uncle Bobby was staying. His rental is called Leapin' Lizards Lodge, and it was about a 2 mile walk from town. We hiked up there and barged in on him. It is a beautiful rental, which he is sharing with a few of his friends. It is right on the beach, it has this outdoor bed that is the most comfortable thing I have ever laid down on, and all the amenities you could think to ask for. We plan to spend as much time with him as we can while we are here, and Sherry comes in tomorrow too. Should be a good week.

December 15, 2011

We are still in Green Turtle Cay. We would like to have gone down to Hopetown by now to meet up with Uncle Bobby, but the winds have yet to quit. There is a two mile stretch that we have to pass to get to Elbow Cay that is completely exposed to the Atlantic. It is called Whale Cay Channel, most of these Cays are barrier Islands to Great Abaco Island and we have traveled within the relative safety of these Cays so far. Whale Cay Channel goes out into the Atlantic on the East side of Whale Cay. There is an inside passage, but it is heavily shoaled and there is a big rock that is called "Don't Rock" in the middle of the unmarked area that is reported to be passable. When we ask locals about going through the inside passage we sort of get the shrug and "yeah, you could do that, but", it seems like a big risk with a lot of "what if's" to us. This past week alone, there have been a number of boats that have left to head down through the outside channel and have turned around and come back because the conditions have been so poor.
There is a cruisers net that we listen to on the VHF radio that does a broadcast in the mornings and they give a daily weather report as well as channel reports. Each day they have said that the channel is too rough for safe passage. I trust that they know what they are talking about, because they get that information from boats who have or are currently trying to pass through that area.
The winds have been blowing steady at 20 knots from the NE for the past 5 days and will continue until possibly Sat/Sun. We did realize that it was windy in the Bahamas during the winter months, but we have only had one day since arriving where the winds have only been 10 knots or less. I am not really complaining, because we are still having fun and have had plenty to do within this island and with our new friends, BUT this wind is getting a little old. I just want one nice day to get down to Elbow, then it can start to blow again.
Yesterday, Deason and I took the ferry over to Treasure Cay with Stacey, Leia, and Zoey, then we drove down to Marsh Harbor to do some shopping, and such. I was able to get some holiday shopping done, and grocery shopping. I had to remember where I was for a minute while we were in the grocery store, because it was just as nice if not nicer than some of our grocery stores at home...with all the same stuff I would buy at home too. We had a great Bahamian lunch at a local favorite restaurant, and then made it back on the 5pm ferry.
While we were in Marsh Harbor, Stacey (who is also pregnant) had an appointment with her obstetrician, and I tagged along to get my BP checked as well. My blood pressure is great, my belly is getting bigger, and I am feeling the baby move around quite a bit now, all I can hope for is that things continue to go on as well as they have been!

December 10, 2011

The Internet here has been pretty inconsistent, especially on the weekends when more people are home using all of the bandwidth. So, I have been unable to keep up with the blog and emails as much as I normally would. We have also had a busy couple of days spending time with our new friends.
On Friday they braved the weather while it was raining to come over to visit our boat. They got soaking wet playing tag around the boat. The kids didn't seem to mind at all.
Yesterday, we went to their house to play, and then we took the three oldest girls back with us to the boat so they could swim and kayak. It was so nice to have kids over to play and enjoy the boat with Deason. They also played monopoly or part of a monopoly game before they all went Christmas caroling. Deason got to go with them for caroling, we would have joined them as well, but Dahlia was so excited that the girls were over that she refused to nap until she pretty much couldn't stand anymore and she crashed at 5pm for the night.
Oh, we had a little scare the other morning. A 46ft charter catamaran came in and anchored in White Sound where we are. We are towards the SW corner of the anchorage, and they were pretty much in the center when they set the anchor. It was calm that day, it was the day we went over to the beach, but around 6am the following morning when the front moved over us the wind picked up to 20 knots from about 5 knots. Deason woke up and said that the catamaran was now right next to us. They had dragged over 200 yds, and ended up right next to us. They were a little too close to comfort, but luckily the wind wasn't more from the East or they would have been right on top of us. The funny thing was, when they woke up, they just looked around...I am assuming they realized they weren't in the same spot....but they didn't let out anymore scope on their anchor. Then they left the boat, they didn't even seem the least bit concerned that they had just dragged. I guess when it is not your boat you don't really care what happens to it, but in the future we won't be getting too close to charter boats in an anchorage.

December 8, 2011

We have been really enjoying ourselves here on Green Turtle Cay, there is a real sense of community here. All of the people that we have met have been very friendly and welcoming. Deason has enjoyed meeting new kids, and has enjoyed snorkeling and being able to swim off of the boat.
We did end up getting to go to the beach over on the East side of the island on Wednesday. It was still a little windy with a light shore breeze, but at least the waves were on the smaller side. The reef is only 10ft off the beach in some spots so we were able to do some snorkeling and see some really pretty reef fish. The water wasn't as clear as it would have been if the water was calmer, but there was still pretty good visibility. We spent a few hours on the beach, and while we were there we only saw two people walking the beach. We had it all to ourselves, but I don't think most Bahamians would considered going to the beach at this time of year. For them the water is too cold, for us it is perfect.
We went into town last night to go to a Christmas play at the church. All of the kids that we have met were in it, and it was really good. It was called "The very bestest Christmas present ever", all of the kids were fantastic, and it was funny too. We sang Christmas songs, and it is actually starting to feel a little like Christmas time.
We will probably stay here through the weekend, and then head over to Marsh Harbor on Monday, then to Elbow Cay to meet Uncle Bobby on Wednesday. All....weather depending.