July 27 - August 13

Cruising With The Family

After we temporarily fixed the engine oil cooler, we were able to get to Green Turtle Cay from Mangrove Cay without overheating transmission by sunset. The next day, we were docked at the Conch Inn Marina and our guests (Terri's mom, Joannie, her boyfriend, JD and Terri's nephew, Mikey) arrived around 2:00. After all the problems of getting here, it was well worth it to see how excited they were seeing the beautiful water and looking forward to nine days with us on the boat. As soon as they arrived, JD and I went to work on replacing the old oil cooler with the new one they had brought with them. The rest of the group went to Maxwell's do some more provisioning. By the the time they came back, we had installed the new oil cooler, and we were back in business.

We stayed at the dock that night and had dinner at Curly Tails restaurant in the marina. Since it was not too hot, we decided to take a table outside which was fine until the food showed up. Suddenly, the table, our food and ourselves were attacked by flies. The waitress brought out a couple of saucers with hot sauce in them apparently to deter the flies, but I think the flies were using it to dip our food in. After a few minutes, we retreated inside the restaurant with our food. Strangely, despite the fact that the windows and doors were completely open, there were no flies inside. Chemicals? Voodoo? I couldn't guess.

The next day we swung by through Man-o-War Cay. The ladies wanted to check out the canvas bags that this island is famous for and Terri and I were anxious to try attaching a mooring ball. The mooring ball went relatively well, with not too much screaming and cursing. Just after lunch, we sailed over to Hope Town where we picked up another mooring ball for the night (by this time, we were pros!). We dinghied to the town and walked over to the beach on the Atlantic side of the island and let our guests get the full experience of the beautiful water, the light pink sand and blue sky. After the beach, we went over to the famous lighthouse and walked up to the top to see the view.

The next day we motored over to Tahiti Beach at the south end of Elbow Cay and dropped anchor. Here we spent most of the day swimming, snorkeling and relaxing. In the evening after dinner on the boat, Terri, JD and I dinghied over to Cracker P's, a bar and restaurant over on Lubbers Quarters for their last Full Moon Party of the season.

The dinghy dock was full of boats and the party was in full swing with mostly a younger crowd. A man took our line and pulled us down the dock and tied us up. "Should we lock up the dinghy?", Terri asked. I looked around and saw that nobody had locked their dinghy, even most of then still had the cutoff switches hanging on their outboards, so we decided to take the cutoff key, but not lock the boat to the dock. We stayed at the bar, but after a while the DJ started playing newer music (i.e. rap) and it was time to go. We wandered down the dock looking for our dinghy and suddenly realized that we were almost at the end of the dock and hadn't seen it. Although we hadn't drunk much at the bar (at $6 a pop, you tend to conserve), this really sobered up the crowd. I had seen the guy who helped us tie up earlier in the evening, and I dashed to find him. About halfway up the stairs, my brain suddenly started working again and I turned around to the dock where I ran into Terri who had just figured out the same thing I had: "The dinghy is under the dock! I found the painter on a pole! It's not stolen at all!". We all had to have another drink back at the boat to calm ourselves down.

The next day, the electric windlass, which we use to pull up the chain and anchor, broke. Now I had to pull up 50 feet of 3/8" inch chain and a 70 pound anchor manually. Who needs a gym when you're cruising?

The next day we had planned to anchor at Great Guana Cay and visit Nipper's and snorkel off their beach. On the way to Great Guana, we anchored near inside Fowl Cay to do some snorkeling. I went in to check the reef, but the tide was running and there was a powerful current moving out to the Atlantic. When I got back to the boat, I warned people about the current and stay close to boat. Unfortunately, Joannie got too close and got sucked out through the gap between the reefs. After about 10 minutes, we saw her get on a dry reef to wave to us to get her back with the dinghy. With her flippers on, it was almost impossible to walk on the very rough reefs, and we watched her fall right on her knees. When we got her on the boat and after seeing the wound, I realized it needed more than a really big band-aid. Back to Marsh Harbor we went and JD took Joannie in a taxi to the government clinic. The bad news: thirteen stitches and both hands had to be bandaged because of lacerations. The good news: medical costs in the island is very cheap ($58 - try that in the States).

After the trauma of that day, we stayed the night at Conch Inn Marina. The next day, we went to Great Guana key to finish the trip from the previous day. On Wednesday, August 1st, we went around Whale Cay and anchored at White Sound, the northern side of the two major anchorages in Green Turtle Cay. We picked up a gas-powered golf cart so that we could drive to Settlement Harbor, the small town that's on the other side of the island we were at. The roads here are very rough and the the poor golf cart had had a hard life. After 5 minutes from the rental agency, a right front spring broke and we were on the side of the road. Luckily, we had brought the VHF radio so we were able to call the agency and they brought a new cart within a few minutes.

That evening we had a wonderful dinner overlooking the harbor at the Bluff House restaurant and we celebrated Terri's birthday (prematurely). After dinner, we dinghied to the other side of the harbor to the Green Turtle Club to listen to the Gully Roosters, a popular local band.

The following day we went to Treasury Cay, which has one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. We ended up taking a slip for two nights since it had gotten so hot during the night. It was also nice to relax for a couple of days without having to move the boat (especially since I became the anchor windlass).

Finally, on Saturday we returned to Marsh Harbor to allow our guests to leave on Sunday. That evening we had a delicious lobster dinner at Curly Tails (lobster season had just started a few days ago), and we swapped stories from the week. This time, we opted to sit inside to avoid the flies from the previous visit.

After our guests left, we began to sail slowly back to the U.S. mainland. We'd been lucky with the weather, especially hurricanes, but we were in August so we were concerned about extending our luck. We started back the same way we came in, but his time we took our time. We ended up staying overnight in several fantastic, deserted anchorages and enjoyed the peace and quiet after having had a very busy, busy month getting here. Finally, it felt like cruising.

Monday, August 13th, we weighed anchor for the last time in The Bahamas, for the moment. We decided to make an overnight crossing to Fort Pierce, which was about 90 miles. Just before dark, we had just come off the Little Bahama Bank and I was showing Terri how she could track a radar target on the screen. I found a target about 2 miles away, and almost immediately the radar showed that the ship was heading straight to us. I was concerned about another boat coming straight to me in the middle of the ocean. What could it be? Pirates?

Of course not. It was the U.S. Coast Guard and we were boarded for the SECOND TIME in less than 40 days.

Dinner at Curly Tails before the fly infestation.

Kiva on a mooring in Hope Town, within spitting distance of the Atlantic ocean.

The Fresnel lens in the Hope Town lighthouse. The pole in the middle of image is the is the pressure kerosene light that illuminates the lighthouse.

Lots and lots of curly tail lizards..

Nipper's is a fun bar with a great snorkeling beach.

Delicious, fresh lobster on the last day of the trip.

Hope Town Lighthouse.

Can you find the Texan in this picture?

The latest in reef wear....

Dancing to the Gulley Roosters at Green Turtle Cay

"Crazy Eights" night. Jan has covered most of his cards so you can't see that he has about half the deck in his hand. All we can say is: Beware of the Big Dog!