Movin' On 04/26/13

Once again, it’s been an age since I’ve sat at this computer.   With a guest onboard, all spare time is filled with conversation or activity.  In the past week we’ve covered a lot of territory – more figuratively than actual but still . . .

I last reported from the shores of Spanish Wells on the northern tip of Eleuthera.  We spent one night there hoping to “score” a fix to our broken refrigeration but had no luck.  We gave in to the inevitable and stocked the unit with block ice.  Our mooring neighbors were a family we met in St Augustine the past two seasons – we continue to see what a small world this sailing community is!

Spanish Wells is unique in many ways.  In addition to it being “dry” (no alcohol for sale!), it’s quite well established with quaint homes everywhere and a full network of little streets and services available.  Almost all of the traffic is golf cart but other small cars were also more plentiful than we’d seen for a while.  The people were almost all white – the biggest difference than all of the other Bahamian communities we’ve encountered. 

We stayed only the one night after deciding that Sunday would give us the best crossing opportunity to the Abacos, our next destination.  We headed out the “back cut” which is rumored to be very difficult and not suggested without a local guide.  After looking at the charts and talking with several well ingrained locals, we decided we’d give it a go.  Although it was nerve-wracking for all of us aboard, we made it through perfectly – not one incident other than a lot of racing heart rates!

The crossing was pretty unpleasant, unfortunately.  Right after leaving the cut, the ocean swell hit us and, with winds directly behind our intended course, we had a very rolling and nauseating ride.  The boys did great and even managed to sail 3 out of our 8 hours offshore.  I, on the other hand, spent the day fighting some serious nausea and the emotional trauma that comes with it for me.  BUT, we made it across unscathed and anchored soon after we passed into the harbor. 

Since then we’ve had several really great days of sailing, the first being that next day where we sailed 17 miles in a ziggy zaggy pattern, having to maneuver our sails at every turn.  It was a great day for learning more about the mechanics of our boats and her sails and we put less than ½ hour of time on the engine for the whole day!  We anchored outside of Hope Town where we found all of our cruising buddies from our journey within 10 miles in just about every direction in the area.  It was a great treat to hear them on the radio and subsequently being able to connect with them one by one!

We moved into the Hope Town harbor early the next morning and grabbed a mooring ball right next to Bill on Providence and our buddies aboard Truansea.  REUNITED!!!  Hope Town is an absolutely delightful community with quaint cottages all around, a gorgeous ocean beach stretching for miles, a working kerosene lighthouse, an active community with services and activities at every turn.  We haven’t seen anything even remotely like this anywhere in our journeys to date so we were quite taken aback but didn’t waste one minute, taking long walks, swimming at the resort pool, playing bingo at the harbor bar and finding some internet access. 

With our refrigeration gone, we needed to get some stored meats cooked up and Steve made an amazing spaghetti sauce that we shared with our solo sailing buddies aboard Providence and Slow Flight.  The evening activity brought hundreds of people to the lovely Hope Town Lodge ocean deck.  A movie highlighting the Bahamas National Trust’s effort to save the ecology of the Bahamian seas and wildlife was shown just after the sun set.  It was well received and provided great entertainment and inspiration.

Before moving harbors with our reunited boats, Rob and I took off the next morning to walk up the lighthouse.  It was a fascinating structure dating back to 1864 and still in perfectly kept condition.  It requires constant attention to be of the service it provides – the lantern is lit every night and has to be checked and adjusted every two hours it operates.  It shines a beautiful light over the harbor with its prismed paneled slowly circling the flame.  Just beautiful!

The next day was another great sail 8 miles across the Sea of Abaco to the town of Marsh Harbor – the “big city” of the area.  We anchored not far from the dinghy dock and headed straight in to try to get our cell phone reset to accept internet again.  I swear, being out of contact is far too taxing for this girl!  It ended up that Rob and I spent the good part of the day at the Bahamas Telephone Company and never did get my newly acquired phone to work.  The big score of the day was a top notch cinnamon roll from “Da Bes’” bakery!

Yesterday brought a fun morning of snorkeling on the Mermaid Reef just outside of the harbor.  It was teaming with fish of all sizes and color and had lobsters and eels hiding everywhere among the rocks.  Being that lobster season ended the 1^st of April, we went home empty handed (sad face).   After another passage across the “Sea” to the outside anchorage at Man O War Cay where we spent the balance of the day walking the ocean beach, snorkeling just off the boats and soaking up the sun.

We’re all enjoying being together again and joined forces for another amazing meal together.   Neither  Truansea nor us sports refrigeration now so our meals are getting more and more creative.  Of course having just come from the best grocery store (Marsh Harbor) any of us has seen in four months, a little fresh food was still on the menu.  We had grilled brats, veggie sushi rolls, a green salad and fruit courtesy of Truansea and we contributed a big potato salad and the always well received fresh baked cookies.  A FEAST!!!

The big decisions of every day come with the forecast in the mornings.  In that they change every day, we just can’t seem to get a good feel for a crossing date and we’re pondering once again this morning how to best navigate the balance of the miles yet to go.  For today, anyway, the plan is to stay on our current course with an expected arrival to our “staging” area early next week.  Unfortunately another big weather system has entered the equation that may push our crossing back up to another week.   But that’s how this all goes and for now, we’re staying the course and hoping for a window to open somewhere in our projected timeline.

We’re missing home, have a broken frig, Rob has an infected knee, Steve’s anxious for his first big overnight crossing and we’ve all got our minds occupied and distracted.  But every day brings some new treasure that somehow balances the equation.  Steve just returned from his early morning first spear fishing expedition with Mark and family where they scored two nice groupers promising another fine meal to come.  And so the story goes!

and the way Steve handles a rainy afternoon . . .
yup, I baked cookies and we opened midday wine.