Day 71 - Home Again Home Again Yippie Yeah!

We arrived home from our trip Sunday evening, March 21 around 5:15 p.m. Less than 5 miles from home we encountered a major thunderstorm. Our arrival home was delayed by 15 minutes. But we are safe and sound and it's good to be home. Harold and Kay, our friends and neighbors down the street, came up to help with the lines and getting the boat secured. Then after that we had pizza as our celebration dinner. Brian and Jennifer brought the kids over to say hello because they missed grandpa and grandma!

Yesterday was the day to get everything off the boat and do laundry. I did 8 loads of laundry and I'm still taking things off the boat today. It seemed like it was never going to end.

Last night Brian and the family came over for pizza and we gave them their gifts from our trip. They each got a large conch shell and a small conch plus T-shirts and other items. It was great being together again.

Well, this completes the blog for this year. If all goes well, we will be hitting the high seas again next year.

Day 70 - We're Almost Home!

We arrived in Sailfish Marina, West Palm Beach, today from Bimini. We left at 8:00 a.m. and arrived at 12:30 p.m. that was great time only 4 1/2 hours. We traveled 79 miles so we did very well. We encountered 3 - 5 ft. swells in the middle of the gulf stream and 2 - 4 ft. as we neared the Florida coastline. Tonight we enjoyed dinner with our friends Richie and Ann Spedale at the restaurant here at the the marina. We had a very enjoyable dinner and great company with our friends.

Tomorrow we plan to head for home. Satellite Beach here we come!

Days 68 - 69 Hangin' Out in Bimini

Beach at Bimini across the island from the marina (less than 1/4 mile away).

Well it looks like we are stuck in Bimini until Saturday. As always, another front has moved through and we are not interested in crossing the gulf stream in 7 - 8 ft. seas. We are enjoying our last couple of days in the Bahamas just hangin' out. Yesterday a couple that we met in Compass Cay stopped by to see us. It seems that we are on the same track of coming back to the US as they are. We shared stories of our adventures getting to Bimini they came in a few hours later than we did on Wednesday and their experience was not a pleasant one! However, they made it safely into port so that's the important part that counts.


Dinner at Bimini Blue Water Resort Restaurant. It was time to have dinner somewhere other than on the boat!

Days 66 - 67 - We're Back in Bimini!

If you notice the grease on Alan's check, apparently he blew his lid down in the engine room!

We have had a couple of interesting days since our last update. We left Nassau yesterday morning around 9:30 a.m., headed for Frazer's Hog Cay. We made it in 3 hours but we had quite a ride. We were in 4 - 6 ft. seas around the half way point of our voyage and it lasted for 30 - 45 minutes. It's normally choppy in the Northwest channel but yesterday was more than we expected. As mentioned in the Waterway Guide, the rough seas are caused by the containment effect of two dead end bodies of water (Northwest Providence Channel and the tongue of the ocean) that are trapped by the shallow seas and wind. Alan said that it looks like we got a lickin' by the tongue! Both Alan and I were ready to get out of Nassau, we had been there long enough and it was time to move on!

We stayed at the Berry Island Club on Frazer's Hog Cay. It was a nice place and we were the only boat docked at the marina. It's a little out of the way but it was well worth the trip considering the friendliness of the people. We also had dinner there, guess what our entree was? Your right, fresh conch!
The picture to the left shows the first step in preparing our dinner!


We left this morning at 9:30 a.m. and made our way back to Bimini. It took us 6 hours to make it and we traveled 104 miles. It rained most of the way but it didn't get real bad until we were about 5 miles from Bimini Blue Water Marina. Our original plan was to come in the old channel which is unmarked but due to the severe weather conditions we had to go a little further south and come in via a range finder. Fortunately we knew where to look for the range finder from being in and out of Bimini several times. Believe me if it was the first time we might still be looking for the range finder. Once we were safe and sound at the dock it stopped raining! We fueled up and if the weather cooperates we are planning on making West Palm tomorrow.
This picture of our boat at the marina was taken from a couples home (on a hill) we meet at the marina.



A reminder of where we were!

Days 62 - 65 - Hangin' out in Nassau

We were planning to take off yesterday, Sunday, March 14th heading to Frazer's Hog Cay, in the Berry Islands, however, while Alan was in the engine room checking things out, he decided that the small leak around the mixing elbow was getting larger. My brother had brought a couple of gaskets with him specifically for this problem so Alan was going to just switch out the gasket. Unfortunately, the gasket that was sent to my brother was the wrong one. So our plans to leave were put on hold and Alan went in search of the correct gasket. He has located the gasket here in Nassau and is currently on his way to purchase it. So if all goes well we will be heading to Frazer's Hog Cay tomorrow morning. The winds have picked up this afternoon so the ride there would probably be just a little rough. I went on windfinder.com and it looks like tomorrow will be a more comfortable day for travel.
Here's a picture of my family at Montague Beach. It is probably the #1 worst beach in the Bahamas and we found it!

Days 59 - 61 Alone Again, Alan, Jan & Spike!

Here we are back in Nassau and my family left for the airport this morning at 7:30 a.m. We had a great time at Highborne Cay where we spent Monday and Tuesday. We returned back to Nassau on Wednesday to ensure that we had an easy trip, which we did. While in Highborne Cay, Alan purchased 4 large live lobsters from a diver and we had them for dinner Tuesday night. Here is a picture of the lobsters, they feed 7 of us with lobster left over for lobster salad sandwiches the next day!

We had a great time exploring the different beaches at Highborne. We made it to three. We collected lots of conch shells and coral and what a collection we have! Conch was everywhere!

Yesterday we went to Atlantis and walked around the grounds, which included looking at the aquarium, marina, casino and had lunch at Murray's deli. Then everyone except Alan went to the Straw Market to do some shopping. Alan went back to the boat with Willie, our driver. We then walked the 2 miles back to the boat after completing our shopping.

We are planning on staying in Nassau for the next day or two, basing the return trip on the weather.

Days 53 - 58 - Happy Birthday Spike! He's 3 years today!

Rachel and Spike playing on the beach at Highborne Cay!
Sorry for taking so much time to update our blog but we just got such lousy reception in Nassau that it was too much of a hassle so I decided to wait. So here we are in Highborne Cay. My brother John and his family joined us on Sunday night and we hit the high seas on Monday morning. We had a beautiful ride here. The seas were 1 - 2 ft. and we made the trip without incident. Once here we had lunch and then off to the beach we went. Except for Alan who stayed on the boat and piddled around. He bought four very large live lobsters and put them in the freezer! We will be grilling them today. Last night we had a Bahamian meal catered to the boat. We had grilled fish, conch chowder, ribs, cole slaw, baked macaroni and cheese, creel rice and to top the meal off rum cake. It was delicious! Today we are planning to explore the island some more. Needless to say, we are having a great time.

Days 51 & 52 - Hanging out in Nassau

As we reported on our previous blog, there is nothing new going on here in Nassau. We are preparing for my brother & family's arrival, tolerating the cold fronts that keep moving through and getting the boat ready for out trip to Highborne Cay. Maybe the excitement will pick up later in the week!

Days 49 & 50 - We've in Nassau!

We departed Compass Cay around 8:30 a.m. yesterday, March 1st and arrived in Nassau at: 1:30 p.m. The trip was uneventful because the seas, Exuma Bank, were almost like glass. We were lucky to arrive early. The marinas in the area were filling up quickly because of another front coming through. Alan's new control station on the aft deck of the boat has been very helpful when docking in tight spaces as shown in the picture.

This is the fourth time we've stayed at Nassau Harbour Club and Marina and nobody forgets Spike. They had us registered before we could get to the office. It appears that the entire staff has remained the same over the last two years.

The marina has a happy hour everyday around 4:30 p.m. usually boaters will bring snacks to share, exchange cards and have an enjoyable conversation with each other. It's amazing how many people from Michigan, Canada, etc. come down to spend 3 - 4 months in the Bahamas just bouncing around. No kids but a lot of pets. Spike has turned into the alpha male and doesn't want any dogs around him. But he is still very friendly with people and wants to be petted by everyone he sees!

Last night we had dinner with a couple that we meet at Compass Cay. We were unaware that they were also coming to Nassau and staying at the same marina as us. They are three slips away! They had left Compass a half hour before us, took a slightly different route and arrived two hours later than us. They were traveling between 9 - 10 knots to conserve fuel. We were traveling 15 - 19 knots based on the wind and current. We had a very nice dinner and conversation with our new friends.

We will be here until Monday, March 8. My brother and his family will be arriving on Sunday and then the plan is to head to Highbourne Cay.