Abacos

We have been visiting the Abacos for the past couple of weeks.   Tyler's parents came and visited us in Hopetown.  They had a beautiful villa overlooking the harbor.  We snorkeled on the barrier reef, kayaked, speared some fish (that were little), toured the island on a golf cart and hung out on the beach.  Our favorite thing to do might have been a few puzzles provided by the villa. 

Sheliak made an appearance or two in Hopetown.  We raced their boat in the Hopetown Sailing Club's final race of the year.  We took fifth place and celebrated with the club members.

After Hopetown, we went to Great Guana.  We sipped on "Nippers" while soaking up in the pool at Nippers Bar.  We met Ned and Terry at the Termite Terrace.  Terry showed us a great reef on the ocean side of Guana.  It was beautiful!!  The long beaches were some of the prettiest we've seen. 

We are in Marsh Harbor now.  Tyler had pnemonia, and the doctor wanted to check up on him after he started meds. 

Time is dwindling away in the Bahamas.  It's hard to believe we only have a couple of weeks before we head back to the states.  We are still not sure where we are heading back to... but we will keep everyone posted as soon as we decide. 

Until then,

Cheers,
M&T

Leaving Exumas

Well, It is a cool day out, so I suppose I will post something!  We have slowly been making our way up the cays.  After Georgetown we went to Lee Stocking, which had the best elkhorn reef we have seen!  It was just gorgeous!  From there, we went to Rudder Cut Cay.  Ironically, I bumped into a friend and old collegue, Cathy Warnsart while visiting here.  While at Rudder Cut, Tyler caught a whale of a fish!  It was huge.  Unfortunately, we ate it!  We got Ciguatera poisoning.  This has put a small damper on our trip... but we are still having fun! 

From Rudder Cut, we headed to Musha Cay.  This is David Copperfield's island.  Now, by Bahamian law, all boaters have the right to anchor and access every beach in the Bahamas.  The folks on Musha Cay do not see it this way.  We were asked to leave.  We made our way towards Little Farmers Cay, where we met Terry Bain, a well known Bahamas activist.  He asked us if we would accompany him back to Musha.  To make a long story short, our crusing permits were threatened by the folks on Musha, the police got involved and cruisers are in fact allowed to anchor there, but it asked that people be respectful of the people occupying the resort.

From Musha, the second time, we made our way up Great Guana back to Black Point and got some more coconut bread!

Then it was on to Staniel Cay, where we dove the grotto... and were attacked by fish and met some pigs at Big Majors... they like to be fed!  Tyler got motivated and finished our inner forestay while at Big Majors as well.

We then went through Pipe Cay again and then onto Little Halls Pond Cay.  This island belongs to Johnny Depp... but we weren't kicked out like we were at Musha!  We snorkeled the fish aquarium and again were surrounded by fish! 

Now we are in Warderick Wells, our last stop in the Exumas.  We did some hiking and will be snorkeling too!

Our next stop is Eluthera, an entirely different part of the Bahamas. 

After

Headed to Georgetown

Things have changed:  Shorts and T-shirts as we write this.  Light, refreshing winds.  We went swimming without wetsuits for over and hour yesterday.  Landscapes are beggining to take the breath away.  Sailing is in half-days....  Life is good!

We are in good company but miss the J's, it's been a while since seeing them and Sheliak.

Still moving quick...ish..ly to Georgetown so leaving some spots we really want to check out for the way back up.

Snorkeled a couple caves in the Rocky Dundas, it was really spectacular and the water has finally caught Michelle's attention.

To the cruisers out there:  Blackpoint is a great place to do some laundry and catch up on contacts and provisions.  It has the best laundromat we have seen on our whole trip!

Breezy in Bimini

Well, we made it.  We left on Wednesday from Rodriguez Key (just south of Key Largo), sailed 11 hours and we are here.  Getting in was intersting.  We sailed through some waves that crashed on the beach nearby.  That was fun!  Next stop Gun Cay, then Chub Cay en route to Nassau and the Exumas. 

The water is so beautiful here, but a little blurry today due to wind.  Tyler is taking his time getting the boat as he gazes at all the different fish.

Speaking of fish... While waiting for our crossing, Tyler thought he would try his hand at spear fishing.  He took a couple of shots at the sand realizing how slow the spear moved.  Then he noticed a fish... not any larger than the palm of his hand.  He thought to himself, it's so small, the spear is slow and the fish is far away.  There's no way I would possibly hit it.  Needless to say the cats got a fishy treat that afternoon.  He speared the poor thing right through its head.  How cruel is he!

We are happy to be here and all the technical stuff is out of the way... we can just cruise now!

M&T

Happy New Year!

We are spending the new year in the keys with warm sunny skies and clear touquouise water!  We had been in Miami for a long time waiting for good weather to cross the Gulf Stream, but to no avail.  We had a couple of possible chances, but the good wind didn't last for long.  So, we left Miami and decided to play in the keys until another window came around.  There aren't a lot of places we can go here with our 6'2" draft, but we are enjoying ourselves anyway.  In a couple days we will head up north to Rodriguez Key to wait for a crossing.  We are hoping for later this week!  We think the cats might be getting board of the boat life, but they don't complain, as Tyler finally caught a fish!  They were happy to have some left over scraps!

Keep thinking positive thoughts of the weather for us... think southwest!

Freezing in Florida

Well, After Charleston, we headed toward Beaufort, SC.  After some quick provisioning, we headed offshore, finally!  We parted from our friends Jen and Josh for a little while here.  We sailed for 33 hours and finally made it to Ponce de Leon Inlet in Florida!  I know what your thinking... your all jealous because it's all warm and lovely here.  Well, don't be so jealous.  We happened to land in Florida during the coldest weather they have had in some 80 years.  We have had a freeze watch for the last couple of days.  It's actually funny to listen to the VHF weather channel tell us to be careful of fires during this time... because people here apparently don't know how to work their space heaters!  Anyways, today we are in Ft. Pierce and heading to North Palm tomorrow.  I hear we should get a couple of nice days before the next cold front moves in.  This is so ridiculous!

Charleston

We have finally stopped in for a few days in Charleston, SC.  We have had some beautiful weather (75 degrees) the last couple of days.  Since Annapolis we have seen some beautiful places and many animals, bald eagles, an aligator and dolphins to list a few.  

We have had only one mishap with the cats... Kemse fell overboard.  We think she was after a fising lure when she fell in.  She was not a happy cat!  But it hasn't stopped her from walking the edge of the boat. 

We are hoping to get to Florida quickly, we haven't been very lucky with weather windows to hop offshore.  Sheliak (Jen and Josh) are still keeping us company. 

Until next time...

M & T