Thursday, December 25, 2014

Merry Christmas!

My rosemary Christmas tree didn't actually make it to Christmas Day. :(

Merry Christmas everybody!! We are still in Hatchet Bay, Eleuthera . We went to a great mass this morning & then to a little cruiser's potluck. Scott made a yummy lobster pasta dish. Tonight is Chistmas Junkanoo. Have to hurry cuz we need to go play with Jib for awhile before we have to leave him alone on the boat again.there are too many aggressive dogs in Hatchet bay this year to bring him to shore. He hates it here. We're leaving tomorrow for a place called Governor's Harbor. It's only about 20 miles away.

 

Scott's new favorite sport. Surfing behind the dinghy.

We found a surfboard floating in Marsh Harbor. When nobody claimed it (I made several announcements on the radio) we decided finders keepers. It was in pretty rough shape. Scott did some fiberglass work on it & is so far having a blast with his new toy.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Love & miss you all so much this time of the year.

God Bless

Xxxxxoooo

 

Sunday, December 21, 2014

Hatchet Bay, Eleuthera

We've been having fun.....fishing, snorkeling, diving.....ya' know....the normal Bahama stuff. Scott speared this 20 pounder last week. Unfortunately, when we looked this fish up in our fish book it said "no go". Apparently, this fish has high risk of ciguatera. No thanks....had that last year. So...we used him for bait.

Our friend Matt & his HUGE hogfish...

Matt speared this hogfish a few days ago....omg..,was he ever delicious. Wow...some of the best fish ever.

It's been so great traveling with our friends...Matt & Lindsey. It's awesome to have a girlfriend close by.

I have to keep this short....our internet is very limited.

Love & miss everybody. It's hard to be away from home at Christmas....

 

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Blowin' In The Wind

We are currently in Marsh Harbor waiting out weather. It has been sooooo windy here lately which makes the seas/ocean very rough. Too many big waves out there to move. We heard on the radio the "the Whale cut".....which is the passage we did a few days ago has 12ft waves today. Marsh Harbor is by far the best place to reprovision supplies. They have the largest grocery store in the Bahamas, internet hook up at Betelco (phone company), craft store, airport, lots of restaurants, propane refill, marine stores, etc. It's a thriving metropolis of about 4500 people. There is one stop light in town. There should be more traffic lights, people drive crazy here. Pedestrians really have to stay alert. We have personally met 4 cruisers who have been hit by cars here. The problem with Marsh Harbor is there is not a lot to do here except run errands. There are no beaches, no diving. We get bored quickly here. However, it does provide great protection when there is bad weather so here we sit....probably a couple more days. We have over the years managed to find a couple small pieces of sand to take Jib to & the views are great.....it makes you feel like you're not in Marsh Harbor & Jib gets to run & swim.

 

Just before we got to Marsh, Scott's crown fell off his tooth while enjoying a caramel lollipop. Rut roh, now we need a dentist. No problem in Marsh. There are 2 & one office is within walking of the dinghy dock. So, our plan was to get him there while I do laundry & then go to Betelco to get internet service. We lug 3 weeks of laundry which, by the way, is heavy. It takes both of us to carry it when we have that much. Anyway, we get to the laundry mat only to find a sign that says "closed until further notice". Awesome. Every year I have some issue with this laundry mat. It's getting a little hilarious. One year I got stuck in the middle of a shouting match between Bahamian women & Hatian women....I just kept folding my clothes & pretended to not notice but it was intense. One woman even came over to me & whispered "don't worry lady. Sorry you had to hear this". Other years I have gone in only to find 3-4 machines ( out of like 20 machines) that work & women ahead of me with several LARGE bags of laundry. It can be a LONG wait. Anyway, no laundry. The only other laundry mat is in another town down the way which would be an expensive taxi trip. I'm going to see if one of the marinas will let me do laundry. It cost 2X more...$4.50 to wash, $4.50 to dry. I can hang our clothes on the boat so I'll skip the dryer. The problem is that most of the marinas won't let you use their facilities unless you are staying at the Marina...so, we'll see... Until then, I'll just wash the essentials myself with my trusty ammonia/water mix that I learned from another cruiser. The clothes aren't as clean as they would be with a washing machine but they smell better at least.

So...then we go to the dentist. She's not in on Mondays. So far we're batting zero on our errands. Scott made an appt for the next day which went very well & only cost $55 to put the crown back on. We thought it would be much more so that was a relief & Scott really liked the dentist.

 

Scott caught a mutton snapper right under our boat...with just a little line & small hook..he was so good.

Yesterday when the winds were really picking up...1 catamaran dragged into the other....
Look close...you can see our resident lizard we picked up along the way...he eats bugs . Love him
Laundry day

 

Yum....nothing like fresh coconut milk...

Love & miss everybody...

Xxxoooo

Michelle, Scott & Jib

 

Friday, December 5, 2014

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday everybody! At least, I think it's Friday.....already losing track. What a day yesterday! Scott & I went to town to try & set up phone/internet stuff. The phone company is only open on Thursdays now from 9a-3p. We walked up the giant hill to the BTC office, talked with her about our options for about 30 minutes. We had decided to buy an iPhone (essentially), & make it a wifi "hotspot" so we could use both iPad, laptop...& also use as a phone. A $230 investment. We walked down the hill to the bank (which is also only open on Thursday) to get more cash. I got in line but was informed that the people in chairs behind us were actually "in line AHEAD of us". Scott made a good point in that it was much better to wait in a chair & keep track of those ahead of you than to stand in line the whole time. "When in Rome...."

Anyway, after the bank we went to our favorite restaurant here.."New Plymouth Cafe", a.k.a "Dave's". Delicious as always. 1 of 2 places in all of the Bahamas that you can get a cheeseburger for $5. The other place is in Marsh Harbor. It's called "The Golden Grouper". We walked back up the big hill to BTC to purchase our new internet set up. So excited! We waited while the sales girl talked on the phone to her family. She had about 4 phone calls while we stood there. Customer Service is not a priority here.....but patience is. Then....she took a break from her conversation to tell us she didn't have the card cutter for the SIM card. It needs to be trimmed to fit in the phone. Same problem A YEAR ago! They haven't acquired a card cutter in a year? I'm sure we're not the first person to buy a phone here in a year..... Grrrr!!! So.....we HAVE to go to Marsh Harbor to resolve this. It's so frustrating. How can they sell a phone that they can't make operational for you?!! BUT...that's the way it is in the islands sometimes. There is nothing you can do but say "ok, thanks for trying" & head on home.

We are "so far" planning to leave Green Turtle tomorrow but Scott, Jib & I took a walk to the ocean side of the island today & were a little disappointed how rough it still was out there. We've had heavy wind from the Northeast ( mostly East) for days.....It may take another day for things to "lay down". We're going to decide in the morning after listening to weather reports.

Meanwhile, we're just trying to enjoy our time here. I love this island. I tried out my new dishwasher today...

Now that we have the swim platform I can wash dishes easily with salt water....this saves soooooo much of our fresh water, which now that we're here & have to pay a lot for our water....it's really helpful. So, our friend Matt found this bucket on the beach yesterday & Scott cut it & shaped it into my new dish bucket. I put the dishes in there & go out to the platform.

 

Not a bad view for dish washing ;)

It was really easy & actually felt like a relief. For once....not worrying about how much water I was using. Last step...quick rinse with fresh water.

 

 

 

Love & Miss everybody

Michelle, Scott & Jib

Xxxooo

 

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Cruising Season #4.....Its On!

We've been in the Bahamas for a week now. We had a great crossing initially. The first 7 hours through the Gulf Stream we were doing between 7 & 8 knots with the engine off. Just sailing.... We got to the Bahama Banks within those 7 hours.....50+ miles in 7 hours on a sailboat.....that's pretty fast. Especially for our boat, an Island Packet.....they don't call them Isalnd Piglets for nothing. ;) then things slowed way down. It still took another 10 hours to get to the 1st stop, Great Sale Cay. By the time we reached Great Sale we had been traveling for 26-27 hours. We were tired. At 2am I was at the helm on my shift, Scott was sleeping. All of a sudden something whizzed by my face & hit the the plastic of our enclosure. I thought at 1st it must have been a bird, but we were too far away from land for that. Then I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. That happens sometimes when you're exhausted in the middle of the night at sea...but then, I heard flopping. I woke Scott. Sure enough, a flying fish had flown into our cockpit. We had a laugh & sent him on his way & just kept plugging along.

So the 1st leg went great. We got some sleep & the next morning, anchors up....headed for Green Turtle Cay.

As we're plugging along to Green Turtle our bilge started acting up. We were taking on water...not a lot but enough to warrant concern. We still had hours to go. (The bilge is the vital organ of your boat....it pumps out water that shouldn't be there in the first place....at least on our boat) So we trouble shooted different scenarios of what could be causing it & we decided it was the engine. So we turned it off & just sailed. The bilge emptied out. We haven't had any trouble with it since but it was a little scarey. As the bilge was filling....a squall was moving in. Of course.

We managed to put sail the worst of the storm & get tucked in to favorite little island in Abaco, Bahamas...Green Turtle Cay.

Our good friends Matt & Lindsey from s/v Kindred Spirit are here too. So glad!! We've been having lots of fun. Lindsey & I are learning to crochet & Matt & Scott work on whatever little project they can think of.

Matt & Scott sewing some canvas
Jib's sailing buddy Oliver. Jib likes Oliver more than Oliver likes Jib.

 

Yesterday's view at the beach

 

Jib trying to make friends

 

The weather has been crappy so we are not able to move south until Saturday. Then we will go to Marsh Harbor & get some fresh veggies & do laundry before heading south.

Love & miss everybody

Michelle, Scott & Jib