End of the Keys and Cays Cruise - 2008 / 2009

We've come to the end of what we're calling the Keys and Cays Cruise - To the eastern edge of the Bahamas (next stop Africa) and back again! And what a trip it's been!

There were several points along the way where we almost gave up and said, 'This is too hard' and went home. The learning curve was far steeper than we thought it would be and we had some very painful (and humbling) lessons along the way. We're used to knowing what we're doing, for goodness sake, and found it very frustrating when we didn't know how to or couldn't do things in the way we expected.

Quite frankly, we were unprepared for the weather reality and at times found it frightening. We should have known more, but then again we read every book / blog on the subject that we could get our hands on so perhaps we're a bit hard on ourselves. I do think we tend to take making mistakes or not knowing things harder than some would and beat ourselves up unnecessarily. Some would just shrug those things off and we tend to agonize over them.

Taking the break after the shake-down cruise and going back to England for a breather was the right thing to do. I'm so glad the UK government insisted that I be present for my citizenship ceremony! It gave us a chance to regroup, get our heads back on straight and think about what we wanted to do without also having to think about the weather, anchoring and how to do this or that.

The decision was to keep going, to give it another shot and do what we set out to do - and we are so glad we did! We made it all the way out to the Exumas and back. We did what we had read and dreamt about for so long.

And after the shake-down cruise, it was 'less hard', I don't think I'll ever say living aboard (versus 'going sailing') is a walk in the park. We were more confident, had been exposed to some of the things we encountered before (so it wasn't 'all' new) and also we were out of the dead of winter. Things are much nicer and easier to bear when it's 80 degrees out rather than 40!

When we took our UK break, we decided to have the summer back there. We were talking this morning and if the decision point were right now, we'd keep going right up the coast. We have a great summer planned with all sorts of adventures so I'm not disappointed, but if the decision point had been now it probably would have been different. Anyhow, we'll really be looking forward to coming back next fall!

With all of its ups and downs, it has been a fabulous trip! One of the highpoints of our lives and we're so thrilled that we've had the opportunity to do it. It's made us grow in ways we never even considered and we've seen things that we'd only read about in books.

Just a few of my particular high points:

- Sitting in a bay with the Miami skyline lit up before you was pretty darned impressive
- White Cay while it was just our own deserted anchorage
- Allens Cay for gently getting used to snorkelling and the funny iguanas
- Exuma Park and lying out on the deck watching the starry sky (we will, however, take a mooring ball on the inside harbor next time and avoid the bouncing experience)
- West Bay for its beauty and calmness in an easternly blow
- Staniel Cay was my overall favourite for loads of reasons - beautiful sea, beautiful surroundings, snorkelling with the coral and the fishes in Thunderball Cave, Club Thunderball and the restaurant at Staniel Cay Marina, and the glimpse into the Bahamian way of life.

(I'm sure Steve will post his, he's long overdue for a blog post!)

The experience has been life changing (I did say a while ago that sailing changes you). The time to step away from the hurly-burly and think about what's important to us has been especially valuable. We're clearer and more focused than we've been in a very long time, but calmer. Confidence has been restored and it's grown - if you can make your way alone across a rather big piece of ocean, where else could you go?!

Steve's Fish!

Mentioned the big fish Steve caught earlier, here it is!

Dinner - All the Fish You Can Eat

We left Chub Cay after the ROLLIEST night we've had on the whole trip! On our way by just after 6:00 to do the rest of the Northwest Passage (the oceany bit)and then to cross the Banks.

A downwind sail with following seas - woohoo, we don't get many of those! They are a real treat. No banging, no flapping and no crashing into waves. Just the head sail up, letting the waves push us along and cruising at 6+ knots.

After breakfast at sea, we dropped both hooks in and thought we might play at fishing for our last couple of days. Not half an hour later, ZING ZING! Both the fish pole and the Cuban reel were jumping with something going on with their lines. I rolled in the reel and Steve took the pole. Mine came up empty, something had bitten off both the hook and the pink frilly lure. (Hey, those things aren't free, you know!)

Steve was working the pole and it was bent nearly in half. As he started to reel the fish in, we could see that it was so big it was making its own wake! He brought it up beside the boat and we could see it was enormous - a big snapper (red or black fin), at least 18 pounds!

This beat all of our barracuda catches!

We had planned on grilling the next fish we caught whole (like you get in restaurants, whole grilled fish), but this was way too big to fit on our tiny grill so Steve filleted it and we packed it away into the freezer. I took a couple of the smaller pieces and quickly cooked them in butter with a little bit of salt and pepper. It was amazing, the best fish either one of us had ever tasted!

Dinner was had underway while watching the sunset. We coasted towards Bimini as it got darker and darker. The chart plotter guided us into the anchorage and we anchored using it and a bit of light from the moon. Our first full dark anchoring (we are still learning!). We did a total of 85 miles today in 15 hours, our biggest day yet.

This crossing of large ocean spaces is very interesting. I didn't realise until I got out here how we all are surrounded by people. Out here, we can look in every direction as far as the eye can see and there is no one but us. Strange to be so alone, but inspiring also - it's an amazing world we live in and we seldom get a feel for how big it really is.

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Bye-Bye Nassau, Hello Big Blue

Skipping along at a spritely 6 knots (can a 12-ton boat be called spritely?) as we leave Nassau and head out over the deep water towards Chub Cay and the Berry Islands. Current depth is 9334 feet, 20 knot winds and 5-10 foot waves (Steve says 5, I say 10).

Deep ocean waters are a very serious inky, dark blue which is very different to the somehow more light-hearted shades of acqua we found in the Exumas. These waters look like they mean business. There is a hint of the sun factor so it's not all grim and ominous.

It's nice to be on the move again, although West Bay is now firmly entrenched on our list of top anchorages. There is so much negative sailing press about Nassau and the crime there that you tend to think of Nassau and New Providence Island as one and the same, but they are not. It's like comparing New York City and Long Island. We had a calm, quiet and undisturbed stay at West Bay (except for the winds) and plan on going back next year. The BASRA (Bahamas Air and Sea Rescue) boat anchored in the middle of the harbor probably helped too!

We're nearly out of red wine and almost out of books. I under brought sufficient books for me and brought just the right amount of books for Steve so we're completely out of 'chick-lit' and I'm OD'ing on 'testosto-lit' (men saving the world with lots of guns and blowing things up, fast cars and aeroplanes, and of course the token beautiful woman)(to be fair, chick lit has its own formula - beautiful woman in trouble meets tall, commanding, handsome rich man. They tend to dislike each other until going through some traumatic experience in which one or the other falls in love. More trauma occurs until the other admits his or her love, at which point they kiss and stroll off into the sunset). It is total cotton-candy reading for both sexes, with no redeeming qualities at all - and I WANT MY COTTON CANDY! No more guy books!

Tonight we'll anchor off Chub Cay and head out early tomorrow morning across the Bahama Banks to Bimini. Today is about 40 miles and tomorrow will be 75. Hopefully the waves will be smaller when we hit the Banks so we can get in a couple last days of fishing and see if we're capable of catching anything besides Barracudas!

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What a Difference a Little Experience Makes!

In early December, we were waiting out some very strong winds in Cayo Costa,
similar in strength to what we're experiencing right now. It's funny how a
little experience makes all the difference in what you experience!

At Cayo Costa, we were worried and at times a bit scared. We didn't have a
clue whether the anchor would hold and if the winds would be too strong for
us to deal with. The wind was howling in the rigging and that kept us awake
at night. It was blowing about 30 knots. We were confined below because it
was cold, cold, cold! We really didn't relax for a minute, but were
constantly tensed for 'something' to happen. We were happy to be on our
way, but overwhelmed by the reality of 'being out there'.

At West Bay, five months later. Steve's lounging around recouperating and
reading up a storm and I'm blogging. We have half an ear listening to the
wind and for the anchor, but other than Steve stepping out on deck
periodically to 'feel' the anchor (resting his foot on the anchor chain to
feel if it is moving along the ocean floor) we're not paying a whole lot of
attention to it. We're not confined below because the enclosure keeps the
wind out, even when it is blowing 30 knots for days. We're paying
attention, but there's no anxiety in the air. During the day, we read,
write, amuse ourselves. At night, we have dinner in the cockpit and when we
go to bed, we sleep deeply.

It's totally different. What a difference a bit of experience makes!

West Bay Bound

Sitting out the weather in West Bay, which is actually fine with us. As
you'll see from the pictures, it's a rather nice place to sit tight while
the wind blows itself out. Much nicer than bouncing around on all the waves
kicked up by these winds!

It's amazing that after close to five months of the two of us living on the
boat with very little outside influence we still find things to talk about.
You'd think we'd have nothing left to say. Each day we have a long
conversation about something and I'm pleased to say it is more than a long
discussion about the weather (although we do have those too!). The topics
have drifted and changed along the way. We speak very little about work
anymore and much more on things that one or the other has been thinking
about.

Yesterday was a Red Book Review and we spent about 5 hours talking about the
goals we had set at the beginning of the year and where we were on them.
Some things are holding steady, but some are being adjusted as we get used
to (and find we really enjoy) our new lifestyle. Most things are on target,
some we can't start until we get home, some needed tweaking and we added
some. If we'd been in the midst of the hurly-burly, we wouldn't have spent
so much time, would have had more of a 'here's what we've done', a 'look how
far we've come!' and 'here's what we need to do next'. Yesterday was the
first time we've done an RBR having the luxury of time to have a big
discussion around it.

Yesterday was also the (newly) traditional 'Blowing Like Stink Pizza and a
Movie Night'. Steve was well enough to make a Stevie Special Pizza and it
was the best one so far, he's really getting the hang of this and we've
decided there will be pizza making parties and movie nights over the summer
(could be a 'Chucking it Down with Rain Pizza and Movie Night' when we're in
Blackburn!). No more Dominos for us.

It's been romantic movie week at Chez Snowbird with Music and Lyrics last
night and an earlier watching of Meet Joe Black. Steve says, "That Brad
Pitt is an ugly little bugger, isn't he?"

You Can't Play at This

Starting to think about the boat learnings and boat projects for next year,
and one thing that comes to mind is you can't play at this. If we were
sailing up the coast of America with all its easily accessible products and
services, we could afford to be less rigourous about some things, we could
play at it a bit, but not out here. If there was a problem in the US, we'd
simply call Tow Boat US and they would promptly come out and bring us in to
some place where we could fix it. West Marines are on every corner, stuffed
to the rafters with the things you need to fix virtually any problem. If
you need parts, go online and, poof!, they appear on your doorstep the next
day.

Things are very different once you venture off the shores of American and
into the Bahamian islands. Haven't seen a West Marine since we left the US.
Many of the islands have just one or no houses on them. You're lucky to
find a food store, water or a fuel dock. They don't have Fedex (at least
not for sending out, it may be available for sending in). So you have to be
a lot more prepared than you would be if you had immediate access to
resources.

Take our starter motor that blew, for example. If Steve hadn't had a spare,
that means the engine wouldn't start. Now in the US that wouldn't be a huge
problem, but it's a rather larger issue here. There is no place to get a
starter motor here so you would have to order one and have it shipped over
here, where someone would put it on a little puddle jumper plane and fly it
to an island which has an airport. But what if there's no airport at the
island that you're at? Well, you have to get to an island with an airport.
But, wait a minute, I don't have a starter motor! See the problem?

Now you could argue that we have a sailboat and we could simply sail
wherever we need to and there is some merit in that, provided that the winds
are right and that there is no tricky narrow passage around some big rocks
or coral. There would be some other things going on, however. Without a
starter motor, the engine cannot run. And the engine powers EVERYTHING
else. No engine - no freezer and no refridgeration so if we're waiting days
for a starter motor, there goes all of the frozen and fridge food (and we
have no ice for drinks). No water pressure for water for the showers and no
pump to empty the showers afterwards. No power for the laptops (oh,
nnnooooo!!!). With a huge supply of canned goods, we wouldn't starve and we
could probably work around some of the others, but this does fall into
slightly more than a minor inconvenience.

Even something as simple as heading back home is fairly serious. Now you
could think, heck, it's only three days so let's use up all the food and use
up all the water, right? I don't think so. There's an awful lot of ocean
between here and there, it makes a lot of sense to have a month's worth of
both food and water standing by. Knock on wood, it should only take 3 days
(after we finally get going again), but what if it doesn't?

This year was about getting used to the boat and seeing if we liked living
on it, and if we could live on it for an extended length of time. There
have been many discussions assessing whether this was the right boat for us
or would something different suit us better. After those discussions and
sitting down to make up an 'ideal boat' list, we've found that with some
modifications this boat suits us just fine. With that decision made, now
Steve's putting together a long list of things that he wants to do to bring
the boat further up to snuff. We want reliable systems and redundancy in
those systems, just in case!

Unlike sailing the coast of America, out here, you can't play at this.

New Pics!

An early morning sunrise, Steve and I in our morning coffee location
(watching the sunrise) and the injury zone. Off to MacDuffs for lunch and a
Norman's Cay welcome!

Norman's to New Providence

Another Super Steve adventure! Tuesday night we were barbequing chicken wings (last of the hot sauce, oh nooooo!) and we spotted a dingy which had been lifted off the beach by the extra high tide. It was slowly making its way down the coast as the waves bumped it further and further away. Now please note, we were just sitting down to chicken wings! We called the Beach Club and the restaurant a bunch of times hoping that we could simply tell the people that their dingy had pulled loose and that they would come and deal with it themselves, but no response at all. Finally, we set the wings aside and got in our dingy to go get it and put it back on the beach.

The waves on shore were a bit bigger and rollier than they looked from the boat, and they had been piling into the dingy so it was filled with water (think heavy, really really heavy). We managed to tip it up so the water ran out and between us heaved it back onto the beach. We tied it down to a rock and dug in its anchor.

Then we faced the challenge of getting back into our dingy in rolly surf! Now, think about this for a moment, there is the dingy, the motor, us, a steep beach, the surf and the rocks. The goal is to get us into the dingy with the motor on and heading back. The difficulty is we have to be in the dingy in deep enough water to start the engine, but we can't climb into the dingy in deep enough water to start the engine. Now normally what we do is push the dingy out into the water, hop in and use the momentum to carry us out far enough to start the engine – tough to do in this situation when every wave is pushing us back onto the shore. The solution was for me to get in and start the engine while Steve held it against the surf. He then leapt in as I gunned it forward.

By this point, we were both soaked (and Steve ended up with a back relapse the next day). The question that arises (and the one that we asked ourselves at the end of it) was why did we do that? We could have simply attempted to call the owners on the radio and then looked the other way. The first reason is that dingys with their motors are expensive ($2500 - $5000). Without your dingy, you have to swim everywhere – rather difficult for getting groceries. In the Bahamas, dingys and motors are hard to replace. There are no West Marines just down the road where you can get another. The final reason, it was the right thing to do and if the situation were reversed we hope someone would do it for us.
Even though the wings were cold, they and the wine were still very nice!

We Left Norman's Cay early this morning for Nassau. It's a blustery day! Tiny whitecaps on the waves and the wind generator (our own little electrical production plant) is churning out the volts. I'm charging both laptops right now and will move on to mobiles so we're all juiced up once we hit civilization.

Have to go down below in a minute because I hear stuff flying about as we surf over the peaks and troughs of the waves.
Power and communications have been more in demand on this trip than originally thought. Of course we knew we'd use power and want to communicate with our family and friends, but we didn't know to what extent and what the 'boat reality' would be like. Steve would feel plugged in with a couple of check in telephone calls over the course of the trip (although he really enjoys the emails and Skypes that I do and the ones that we receive), I would be quite happy with daily communications. Women and men have different communication needs – or at least this woman and this man do!

So we're going to have to get communications and power a little bit better sorted out for next year. (We still haven't heard that woman from the UK sing yet (Rafael says she's from Blackburn, Mom says she's from Scotland, we just don't know)– so out of the loop, but then again last night's sunset and starry sky were fantastic.) I've got my eye on satellite which still costs, but we need to explore whether it will cost more than the $10 a day we pay when we do hook up to wifi. I would also like to explore solar charging for the electronics – there's an awful lot of sun out here that could be put to better use than simply improving our suntans and fading our fabrics!

Heading back is making us nostalgic and excited at the same time. We have so enjoyed this adventure that in some ways we never want it to end. Then again there are lots of adventures in the plan for the rest of the year, new things that we've never done before (motorbiking to Ireland, tandeming (Steve has his eye on a route in Germany ('Just think, if we're biking, all the beer and spatzle you want!') and I'm pushing for Italy (need that annual Italian fix!) plus seeing our family and friends who we've missed on this trip.

Good job we've got an enclosure! Just had a big wave splash all over the front of it – would have had an ex-laptop!

My laptop has been functional, but a PIB for the whole trip. It's a PC so it runs all of the Sailmail (HF radio communications for when we're out of wifi range) and the big wifi antenna that we use for long range Internet access. The screen is all shiny which is great when you're inside, but absolutely rubbish for using up on deck in the sunshine (it makes a wonderful mirror though!). And with its maximum battery life of 30-45 minutes, it's been a real power sink (and yes, a second battery would be nice, but they seem to have stopped making them – surprise, surprise!). The MacBook has been great, but it doesn't run the above software (and yes, there is something called 'partitioning the drive' where we could run both Mac and PC stuff, but I don't know how to do it, would have to research it to figure it out – would rather 'experiment' with that when I'm within easy reach of technical support).

Just checked down below and, yup, most of the books have leapt off the bookshelves again. Project for next year, something to keep the books reined in. Don't know if I'll ever get used to seeing a big wave at the same height as me sitting in the cockpit! It has gotten easier though.

I'm going to be very interested in our reaction to being back in the US. The most people we've been around have been a few at two to three tables in some out of the way island restaurant. Cars? One every once in a while cruising by slowly enough for the driver to say hello and us to say hello back. I suspect the difference will be quite striking (to say the least) when we get back to the US!

Okay, really big wave splashing on the enclosure. Time to take out the knitting! More later.

Okay, it's calmer(ish) now. The trip back from Staniel Cay to Fort Lauderdale will be about 230 miles which we'll take in 30-40 mile increments. We had tossed around the idea of simply doing it all in a big overnighter, but to 'preserve the back' we'll take it day by day. And it looks a bit blowy over the weekend so we'll sit that one out!

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Sailing Downwind and Big Barracudas

After 10 days in lovely Staniel Cay, it was time to go. Yesterday we pulled up both anchors (yes, we can do the Bahamian moor!) and started headed back out to sea. Moss had grown on the anchors, they'd been in there so long! It was such a good anchorage (calm from all angles, beautiful and plenty to do), we hated to leave. We consoled ourselves that we'd be back next year.

We were very excited about this sail, it was going to be downwind. As you may remember from many of our posts, we typically sail to windward. As a matter of fact, we are experts at beating into the wind! We have had little to no downwind sailing on this trip and after yesterday, I have to say it is everything it's cracked up to be and more! Seven hours of coasting gently along at 5-7 knots through some of the prettiest seas you can imagine. Barely had to touch a sail and no slamming into the waves. We wanted to keep going forever!

Managed to insert a little fishing into all that leisurely sailing. We caught the biggest barracuda ever! This is no 'fish story', it was huge! (Stop laughing.) It was so heavy Steve couldn't even lift it out of the water (hence no picture - I said stop laughing!). Unfortunately we don't eat barracuda so it went back into the sea. I really do think we bought the Best Blue Barracuda Lure by mistake.

After our lovely sail (please note it was DOWNWIND!), we arrived at Norman's Cay in time to have the anchor down and be sitting in the cockpit, toasts in hand before sundown. Norman's Cay has a little beachside restaurant right next to the little airplane runway. A big drug runner used to own the island (he's in jail now), one of his planes crashed in the harbor and it's supposed to be a great snorkeling site - that's tomorrow's trip, along with dinner out at the restaurant.

Today's trip was over to the beach - where we did YOGA! Steve is determined to heal his back slowly while taking some gentle exercise, yoga is perfect for strengthening in a very gentle way. Imagine the most beautiful picture of the Bahamas you have ever seen, white sandy beach, waves gently lapping on the shore, a soft southern breeze, sailboats bobbing in the harbor as you do some of the most relaxing exercise ever. We're going to do it all over again tomorrow!

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Very Cheeky!

Steve was barbequing last night and had a visitor. This seagull hovered and
hovered and hovered all the time Steve was cooking the chicken. Guess he
thought he might get something. No luck for him though, Steve warded him
off and protected our dinner!

Do seagulls eat chicken?

The Turning Point and Back in Commission (Sort Of!)

It looks like Staniel Cay is the turning point for our trip, we'll start off tomorrow heading north. Mixed emotions about that, in some ways we'd like to keep on going. The lifestyle is great, very relaxed, beautiful and certainly healthier for us. We're happy with the boat (although we've got a
nice list of projects for next year!) and we can live together comfortably in the space that we have. But in other ways, we're looking forward to getting home, seeing everyone and moving on to the next phase of this year's plan (oh, yes, the Red Book reminds us of all the other things we have coming up!).

Without an underwater camera, I couldn't take photos of Thunderball Cave, but here's a video to show what it looks like. Think there might be an underwater camera on the list for next year. There is so much to see down there!

We've been pretty quiet due to Steve's injury and are almost out of books (ohhhhh nooooooo, things are getting desperate!). Good news though! Steve is almost back in action! The back / sciatica are calming down. He's able to sit up for longer periods of time and we were able to go out to lunch yesterday! Took the dingy over to Staniel Cay and went to the yacht club
for a burger. It's still very weird driving the dingy over the sharks as we go to the dingy dock.

The other island across from Staniel Cay is called Big Major and I read online this morning that there are rather friendly pigs there. We've encountered pigs on our motorbike before, might be interesting to encounter them by boat. Have to see if Steve is interested in a little jaunt!

No Playmate!

Steve's pinched a nerve in his back and has been out of commission for the
past three days - no playmate for me! (That hugely heavy starter motor
probably did it!) He's been limited to lying down, reading and sitting up
for just long enough to inhale his food before having to lie back down
again. Luckily we're in the perfect anchorage (beautiful, good holding,
shops, fairly calm and it has wifi!) which has makes the required stillness
much easier on both of us.

One thing that comes to light during times like this is what a team
operation this is, how much of a team we are, and that actually we haven't
adequately prepared for when one of the team is out of commission.

This boat takes two people to run it. You could run it with one, but some
things would need to be set up differently than they are currently. One
reason I haven't moved the boat by myself is that with Steve out, I cannot
get the dingy (actually the motor) back on the boat by myself. There are
some things that it takes two of us to do.

There are also some things that I do not know how to do as I've discovered.
I didn't know how to light the barbeque, I don't know how to bring in the
anchor, I didn't know how to do the morning engine check. In our team,
Steve barbeques and is master of the engine domain. By only one of us
knowing how to do something, we have no duplication in skills, so we're not
prepared for one of us (particularly Steve) to be out of commission. We
have plenty of redundancy in systems (parts, tools, etc.), but not
redundancy in skills. Not insurmountable, but something we have to work on.
I now know how to work the barbeque.

(Btw, while I was barbequing chicken wings the other night, there was a six
foot shark hovering right next to the boat. He hung around for the longest
time. Do you think sharks like buffalo wings? Well, he wasn't getting any
of mine!)

This whole sailing experience forces you to become stronger as a team. You
have to work together to get most of the day to day business done. To run
to the store, it takes two to get the 'car' in the water and put its engine
and other bits (life jackets, gas tank, anchor) on. To move to a new
location, takes two, one to drive the boat and one to pull up the anchor and
arrange the sails. Even dinner takes two, one to cook and one to wash up.
There is this constant interaction and intermingling as we work together
which we did to a certain extent on land, but not anywhere near as much as
we do now. It forces you to be very careful about how you treat the other
person, we're often in high stress situations and it would be easy to take
that stress out on each other, but that isn't really very teamlike, is it?
We've learned a great deal about how to speak to each other so that we end a
day with a hug and a "Well done!" rather than stressed and shrieking at each
other like some folks we've heard about. So if nothing else from all of
this, we've strengthened how we work together and are a much better team for
it!

(But I'll like it much better when Steve is back to his normal self, the
engine room is not for me - and I miss my playmate!)

Staniel Cay Days

It's pretty easy to settle in to the lifestyle down here, slower, gentler and quieter. The past couple days have been spent relaxing, exploring and getting to know a bit about the place we're in.

Went to dinner at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club which was very good. Also had a great time observing all the crusiers during happy hour, there is a big variety of folks down here - from the folks on the mega yachts to the ones on the tiny sailboats (how did they get that little boat all the way down here?!). Drinks are expensive, $9 for a glass of wine. We'd be better off having one on the boat, but then we wouldn't get all the visual entertainment!

The pre-dinner entertainment was the sharks! These a place on next to the dingy dock where the fishermen fillet their catch of the day and fling the bones and 'stuff' into the water. That water is teeming with sharks and stingrays waiting for their supper. It is not what you would expect, a feeding frenzy - these are Bahamian sharks. They kind of mosey on in and out picking up a bite as they come through. They are good sized though, ranging from 3 feet to 5 or more. Very weird being in the dingy with sharks all around you!

It's been hot with very little wind, but since we spent all winter moaning about the cold, we are not complaining. Instead we're learning new ways to keep cool. Wet t-shirts are like air conditioners, who knew!

We've also been swimming / snorkeling. Yesterday we went over to Thunderball Cave. Now, we've been snorkeling at just about every place we've been to and I've enjoyed it, but it has been mostly white sand, grass, rock and a few fishes. Thunderball Cave was an entirely different experience! After we got in and gasped over the chilly water, we put on our snorkels and the first thing I saw was a huge brain coral! It looked like someone had left a two foot brain in the sand!

We then went under the rock ledge and into the cave. The ledge was only a couple of feet over our heads and as we entered the cave, we were swimming in fish! All kinds of different fish, stripy black and white ones, gold and white ones, glowing neon blue ones, all different shapes and sizes swimming just inches away from us.

Along with the fish were plants and coral all along the bottom. Lacy fan-like purple, more brain coral, oranges, yellows and greens. Up above in the cave itself were three holes letting the sunlight in and lighting up the water below. We continued on through the cave, the coral and the fishes out to the other side, which was even better coral-wise than inside the cave. You could hover and look for hours and not see it all, there was that much of it.

I thought snorkeling was a fun thing to do before, but now I'm hooked! It was amazing!

Had the laundry done by a little old Bahamian lady and had a chat with her husband who shared his thoughts with us, "You need one of those", he said to Steve while pointing to his wife and me, "Life without a wife is like a kitchen without a knife!" Very sweet.

Steve was Heroic Engineer Guy (it's been very interesting these past couple days!) when he pressed the start button and there was no start. The starter motor had decided to quit. Now as we both firmly believe in redundancy in systems and having backups for everything, he just happened to have a spare starter motor sitting around and seven bolts later, the engine started right up! I made him a carrot cake to reward the heroic engineering efforts.

Last night, after making our way through the sharks to pick up the laundry and have a happy hour drink and munchies, we waited until the sun went down and it cooled off before having a quiet glass of wine and some cheese and crackers. We finished off the day by watching the stars go from hundreds to thousands.

Might Have Found the Perfect Anchorage (Although it has Sharks)

Moved a bit further south after our windy adventures in Exuma Park. It was
a downwind sailing day so we decided to head for Farmers Cay, with a drop
out point at Staniel Cay if the wind didn't hold. It was a very nice
sailing day for me, Steve was having a little black cloud day (one where
things go wrong - the dingy was bouncing, I managed to get the rope tangled
in the winch when we were lifting the dingy out, there was just silence when
we pressed the starter button for the engine - it's a good thing he didn't
go fishing, who knows what would have gone wrong for him there!). After the
engine decided not to start as we were sailing up to Staniel Cay and after
Steve beat it back into submission with his hammer, we coasted into Staniel
Cay and found an anchorage that we just love.

We are anchored just a short ways off the entrance to Thunderball Cave, of
James Bond fame. Staniel Cay is famous for that and for being a haunt of
Jimmy Buffett. It is beautiful here with two large main cays with lots of
little cays dotted around. If you haven't Google Earthed any of these
places, this would be a good one to take a peek at. The island itself has a
few shops, laundries and restaurants. Today was mailboat day and everyone
on the island was in a tizz because it was so busy getting stuff off the
boat and onto the shelves. This is the only time you see fresh fruits and
veg, and if you wait, it's all gone. The green bags are doing a fantastic
job of keeping our veg fresh (still have crisp green peppers from Nassau) so
we didn't get very much. Our provisions are starting to go down, but that's
okay because we have to eat them all before we close up the boat for the
summer.

We had a wander around the island on foot and by dingy. Same gentle
Bahamian lifestyle, everyone says hello whether they are walking by on foot
or driving by in a car. We checked out the fuel dock, although all the Cays
seem to be completely out of diesel right now, everyone is waiting for the
boat - which has left Nassau we heard on the VHF this morning.

The VHF radio chatter is a very interesting thing. It's like an old phone
party line that everyone listens in on. Everyone monitors Channel 16 which
is the hailing and emergency channel. Once you've hailed and met someone on
Channel 16, then you go off to another channel to have your conversation. I
wouldn't say anything private though because everyone follows you to your
conversation channel. It's how the restaurants announce their specials, how
you hear about the mail and diesel boats coming in, and how you get the
scoop on what's going on. It's sort of like the local news, but without the
polish.

As we were coming back from the grocery store, I saw what I thought was a
long black rock in the water. However, it kept moving as we went towards
it. Steve got really close and IT WAS A SHARK! It was two feet from our
dingy! Wow, very cool. It was just moseying along and didn't seem bothered
by us at all. Needless to say, we did not pet it.

Lunch was at Club Thunderball, set up on a hill overlooking the bay and the
anchored sailboats. Great burgers! The burgers down here are really good
and Steve likes the Kalik beer too. The American owners bought the place in
December and seem to be working really hard to make a go of it here. There
are a lot of Americans running businesses or working down here.

Tonight is dinner at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club which is quite funky and
fun, but certainly not what you would think of as your typical yacht club.
You have to make reservations if you want dinner and that includes placing
your order for what you want to eat. They ring the dinner bell at 7:30 and
that's when you sit down to dinner. Should be very interesting.

Our criteria for the perfect anchorage is sheltered, good holding for the
anchor, groceries, restaurants and wifi - it's all here!

Tomorrow we're going to take a peek inside Thunderball Cave.

A Minor Inconvenience Versus a Big Problem

Hoooo boy, did we get a dose of new learnings yesterday! Yesterday we got
slapped with a big 'Don't you get cocky now' message! We've been having our
first big Norther since Marathon and the day before yesterday we
congratulated ourselves because we 'thought' we were finally getting the
hang of this stuff. The weather gods and Murphy must have had a good
chuckle and decided they'd teach us cheeky monkeys a thing or two. Okay,
okay! We're humbled again!

The anchorage has gone from still, flat and calm to rocking and rolling.
The wind has been clocking around S, SE, and spent yesterday from the SW.
The only points our anchorage are open are SW and W which means that the
waves and wind from the SW rush right in off the sea. Now we're tied up to
a mooring ball and we didn't think the wind was going to be that strong so
even though there was a mooring ball available in the more sheltered harbor,
we decided to stay put. And the wind actually wasn't that bad, but for some
reason the waves rolling were much bigger than what the wind would normally
generate. So we bounced and bounced and bounced all day long. Key Learning
1 - If a more sheltered anchorage presents itself when there is going to be
a blow, take it.

It's been hot so we've been keeping all the hatches open. A key learning
from another day was to close the back ports just over the bed because
otherwise the exhaust blows in when you run the engine, so we closed those
during the running of the engine and then I reopened them once the engine
was shut down. We spent some time up on deck keeping an eye on the waves
and bouncing around. When I came down below I heard some splashing in the
rear cabin, ooooohhhh nnnnnooooo! Those big splashy waves had backwashed on
the back of the boat and onto our bed. Ugh, seawater bed, not nice.
Seawater takes forever to dry and the salt which remains on the fabric gets
damp at the slightest hint of moisture (and we're sitting on top of the
OCEAN!). I was probably the closest I've been to a major meltdown than I've
been on the whole trip, most things I can handle, but not a wet bed.

Steve was an absolute hero, totally calm, checked things out and discovered
that because of all of the padding, sheets and quilts on the bed, the
mattress had not gotten wet. All of the padding, sheets and quilts had
gotten wet, but the mattress was dry - yyyiiiippppeeee! Sanity was
restored, the bed was remade and at some point we'll get the bedding dry.
Key Learning 2 - If there are waves and you don't want to have a wet bed,
keep the bed ports closed!

We played various dingy games during the afternoon trying to get the dingy
tied up properly after we found it wedged under the swim ladder. The seas
were too bouncy to put the heavy outboard motor back on the big boat (it
weighs 80 pounds and we have to use a winch and halyard to lift it). A
heavy outboard engine is not something you want swinging around on a rope in
big wind and bouncy seas so the dingy and motor stayed in the water often
bouncing as high as the lifelines. Steve finally got it tied on to the
stern to his satisfaction this morning. Key Learning 3 - If it is going to
be blowy, put the big heavy outboard away before it gets too blowy to get it
off the dingy!

There's probably a 4th learning in there, don't just pay attention to the
wind, the waves can be as big, if not bigger, problem. The wind is a good
10 - 15 knots more than it was yesterday, but because the wind has clocked
around some more to the N, now coming at us over the island rather than
directly from the sea, the waves are much smaller even though there is more
wind.

We continued our bouncing on through the rest of the afternoon, through a
steak and pasta dinner (excellent comfort food!) and a cup of tea on deck
with the stars. We bounced off to bed and spent the night bouncing on our
dry mattress.

At about 3:00 in the morning, Steve got up for a look around and said there
was a boat where it shouldn't have been. I took a look and there was a boat
behind us. Now behind us is a short space of water and a little inlet
ringed with rock walls. The boat was pointed bow in towards the rock walls.
It had come untied from its mooring ball or the mooring line attaching the
boat to the mooring line had snapped, and during the night it drifted until
it was facing (and possibly on) the rocks. The boat was completely dark
except for its anchor lights. Just as we were getting out the VHF radio
and figuring out what to do, their lights came on and they backed off the
rocks and headed back to their mooring ball. We couldn't see what damage
was done, but they were moving so that was a good sign.

All of sudden our problems of yesterday became minor inconveniences - theirs
was a really big problem.

A Barren Landscape and Brave Birds

It's a bit windier this morning, which means it's less hot - yes! We like
breeze flowing through the cockpit when the sun is on full blast!

I understand Sue, Mark, Ellie and Louis are on their cruise somewhere in
'our' bit of the ocean, Hi Folks! Hope you have a great time cruising the
Caribbean!

When we checked in yesterday at the Park Headquarters, we spotted the Book
Exchange. The Book Exchange is very important because there are no Borders
or Barnes and Nobles out here, none, nada, so for me to get my book fix I
either pack them in (and we only have so much space on this boat) or I trade
in the ones I've read at the book exchanges we encounter along the way. I
was getting dangerously close to being 'bookless' so needless to say I was
very excited to see two long and well stocked bookshelves! Five books
traded in and five new books for me!

On the porch at HQ, there was a very poised 'boat kid' with birds literally
eating out of her hands. She asked if we'd like to try and I said yes. The
rangers put out sugar for the birds and she put some in the palm of her hand
and they would perch on her fingers while eating the sugar. I tried it and
the birds were very tame and immediately flitted onto my fingers - very
cool!

We went for another walk down one of the island trails. It's really
interesting because as soon as you leave the beach, the island becomes this
rocky, arid, hot bowl. Lots of flora and fauna (particularly lizards), but
not a breeze to be found. The rangers and volunteers have done an excellent
job here. The trails are all well marked, the whole place is immaculate and
there are lots of informational signs about telling you what you're seeing.

Too bouncy for snorkeling today so I had Skyped with Jess, with video!
She's doing great, the house purchase is progressing and this is 'go live'
week for the programme she works on so it is nice and busy! It is amazing
to be anchored next to an island with two buildings on it and have wifi.
Steve's halfway through his first book and I need to get going with mine, I
think. Tomorrow is supposed to be windier still so I think we're staying
put!

Allen's Cay / Warderick Wells Photos

Couldn't get a picture of the starry sky from the deck or the clear water in
the moonlight, but here is a shot of us snorkeling at Allen's Cay and the
views at Warderick Wells.

Any Numpty Can Make It Go

Here are some reflections one month into the Bahamas Cruise. We are in the Exumas which is where we expected to get to this year. We left Marathon a little over one month ago on return from our Uk “break”. The short version of this is …..

This is more like it!!

I guess the question that arises is what has changed from the shakedown cruise before we had the UK trip to this one. Here I think are the key differences and the key learnings:

Differences:

Location!

Learning & Key Success Factors

Patience, patience, patience!! Waiting for the weather before you move makes for a more pleasant experience all around.

Weather means wind and waves. The wave height and direction lag the wind by up to two days. The forecasts tell you about wave height and direction, the learning is that you need to pay attention to it!! After a few days of wind it takes a couple of days for the sea to settle back down again.

Don’t break the rules in respect of you can choose where you go, when you go, how you go (motor or sail) but you cannot choose them all at once. Maximum conditions are as follows:

- Motoring into the wind force 0-2 (10 knots or less with virtually no waves)
- Close Hauled or sailing as close to the wind as the boat will sail, force 3 (10 to 15 knots with waves of a couple of feet)
- Close to a Beam Reach or with the wind between about 75 degrees and 110 degrees off the bow) force 4 (15 to 20 knots with waves in the 3- 5 feet range)
- Broad Reach to Running or with the wind between about 120 degrees and 165 degrees off the bow) force 5 less than 25 knots with seas in the 6 to 8 feet range.

Recognising that this means you may spend a few more days than planned in an anchorage or go somewhere different than the original plan is a big step forward. To be able to wait for weather requires that you are able to entertain yourself with reading, thinking, writing, boat chores, snorkeling or whatever else takes your fancy. Waiting in marinas is expensive and will quickly bust the budget. Six nights in Nassau, as pleasant as they were and as pleasant as the sail was across to the Exumas after the wait cost $560 which is more than we spend in a month on food and is a third of our planed monthly expenditure.

The most important skill to master is anchoring!! Making the boat go is relatively easy, getting it to stay put reliably in wind is more of a challenge. We seem to be getting the hang of this:

- The bottom where the anchor is going to go needs to be capable of holding a properly set anchor. No anchor will hold in smooth rock or very fine sand or very thin silt/mud.
- We have learned to find the sand and drop the anchor into it with the boat slowly going backwards, lay the anchor by hand flukes down.
- Let out some rode so the anchor is pulled along the bottom and not up when you put tension on the rode.
- Apply the tension gradually to dig the anchor in, first by hand, then the weight of the boat, then use the engine (1000rpm, 1200 rpm, 1500 rpm, 1800 rpm in stages with pauses in between) when you have the rode out to the required scope.
- If possible dive on the anchor to check it is set.
- Set the anchor alarm.

Another important skill is interpreting the weather information you get and planning the activity accordingly. Since leaving Miami we have had two basic sources of weather data. The NOAA Offshore Weather Forecast a “GRIB” file (this is a file which contains data on wind speed and direction and sea state across a defined geographical area, not dissimilar to a weather chart but more interactive in that you can put your cursor over a particular spot and get the data displayed. Both are downloaded from Sailmail once a day (see communications). Having got the data the key skill is interpreting it along with “local factors” to produce the forecast of where you are or intend to be. Then you need to plan your movements/activities in light of this. The anchorage we are in at the moment is great for wind with South in it, it is going to be a lot less great with North in it (we would have a large chop and if we drag would be on some rocks or a beach very quickly. We still want to go South. The weather for the next few days is:

- Today. South force 4 (moving today would break a rule)
- Tomorrow: South force 3 (we can move tomorrow assuming we are going to tack and/or motor sail)
- Day After: East Force 2/3 (we can go South in this)
- Day After: South East Force 3 (bit marginal for going South)
- Day After that: There is a cold front coming that will probably give us North West Force 6 (we need to be in a suitable anchorage for that one)

Beyond this we are likely to see a reduction in wind strength and the wind going back to East or South East. This gives us another opportunity to move South. As well as these considerations we are getting ready for some fuel and there is a Marina a few miles south of here where we could get some, so the plan goes like this:

-Today: snorkelling, writing, reading, etc., in the current anchorage
- Tomorrow: sail down to Highborne Key which is only a few miles and the course requires us to go round some obstacles which will mean a leg of South West followed by a leg of South East into a light South wind. Should work fine
- Day After: go into the Marina and get some fuel (much easier to dock and undock in light winds!!). Sail on South to Normans Key to an anchorage that is good for East and South East, but also has a nearby anchorage which would work for the passage of the front as well
- Day After: dependant on the approach or otherwise of the front move around Normans Cay for the passage of the front
- Day After that: Wait out the front

Beyond this we should be able to move South again maybe after waiting one more day to let the seas settle after the front. A few months ago we would not have been capable of understanding the impact of the weather and producing this plan!!

Building skills takes some time and rarely do you master things at the first attempt. The use of sailing books is a good way of doing this, reading these with the benefit of having done what you are reading about really helps for understanding and assimilating the knowledge e.g. anchoring and working with the weather, other examples include manoeuvring under power, docking, trimming sails.

Food is incredibly important; the evening meal is one of the highlights of the day. Katherine has done a fantastic job of having enough of the right stuff on the boat to be able to produce high quality meals with lots of variety, This is an incredible achievement on her part given in our previous lives we cooked really only at the weekends and then only one meal a day. We are now adding fish and shellfish we have caught (more skills to learn and develop) into the mix which really is making a difference.

Communications took a while for us to get right. Out here access to the internet and mobile phone networks are pretty patchy. Getting to a serviceable HF Radio even though it cost over $3k was definitely the right thing to do. Through this equipment we can get weather and e-mails that we would not otherwise be able to get. The ability to stay in touch with family is very important.

In respect of the rest of the boat systems. Refrigeration has proven to be great. The guy who did a lot of work on the boat tried to persuade us that we should ditch the engine powered system for an electrical one, we were unconvinced and had a new compressor fitted. It has been brilliant, I don’t think an electrical one would be half as good and even if it were then we would run out of electrical capacity.

On the subject of electrical capacity, this is OK when it is windy (the wind generator can run the electrics by itself in 15 knots or more of wind) or when we are motoring for a few hours a day. If there is no wind and we are not motoring and we are using computers a lot then we do use more than we produce. This we need to watch so we always have enough left to start the engine.

The addition of a chart plotter has made a big difference and I wouldn’t be without one now. It has made getting into and out of anchorages, cuts, marinas, etc., a lot easier than would otherwise have been the case. The autopilot is a great help on longer passages where it can give you a couple of hours rest from having to steer the boat, especially in light conditions or when motoring. The plumbing has settled down, the daily engine run easily produces enough hot water for us both to have showers (we have a deck shower as well which is basically a plastic bag which absorbs the sums rays to heat the water, at the end of the day it is as hot as you can stand it). The heads (toilets) have to date been fault free and the holding tanks easily allow us to go a week between pumping out.

Thinking about next year then I think that we need to continue from where we left off, do the things that worked well again (spending time getting the boat ready), not do the things that haven’t worked so well (breaking the rules) and build on the learning we have had and the skills we have developed to cover more ground than we have this year with less stress!!

Anchorage Antics

Here we are at Allen's Cay relaxing on deck and watching the boating activity around us. Various dingys bustling about from sailboats to shore, a big boat of tourists dropped off behind us on the other iguana island. People taking their kids and dogs back and forth to the beaches. Lots of folks seem to come up from the south (Highborne Cay?) in powerboats to see the iguanas.

About mid-afternoon a good sized boat anchored just off the beach and dropped off a good sized group of people, 8-10. Obviously there for sand, sun, sea and iguanas. There was quite a bit of wandering about checking out the iguanas and paddling in the water. Perfect afternoon for playing in the water (I know, I have the sunburn to prove it!).

Eventually these folks climbed back on the boat to head back to wherever they came from. The engines roared to life, there was much splashing of water off the back of the boat from the engines - and the boat didn't move an inch. Now this boat had not one, but two 225 horsepower engines on the back - a significant amount of power - more power than the V12 Jags. As we watched, the people on the boat moved to the back of the boat to try and push it forward. We couldn't believe it, but they were pushing right next to these roaring engines, think big rotating propellers. Then we watched them all get directly in front of the boat and attempt to pull it forward with a rope, and again the engines were going at full throttle. Luckily the boat didn't move at all. Can you imagine what would have happened if that boat had jerked forward at full throttle with all those people in front? Frightening!

Super Steve got into the dingy once it was clear they were well and truly stuck. High tide wasn't due until 3 a.m. so they potentially had a long wait and he wanted to make sure they had water, food, warm stuff, etc., if they had to wait out there that long. He spoke with the captain who said they had a cooler full of beer (the other people were pretty stand offish) and that someone was coming out to pull them off. The someone came out, took one look at the boat and made no attempt to do any such thing. He took the standoffish passengers away leaving the captain sitting forlornly on the side of his boat. The captain wandered about on the beach and in the water until a couple of fellows bearing a backpack arrived on the tender (dingy) to M/V Octopussy. It was a big tender which means big yacht (perhaps that was where the standoffish people came from?).

Sometime in the night the man and the boat disappeared. We wondered if the iguanas would eat him.

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