Under The Sea

Now that's a Star Fish! The biggest we've seen....

My Internet is very limited in this new spot...so I'm just going to post as many pics as possible which will probably take the whole day. We are having a fabulous time swimming, snorkeling, & spear fishing in this new spot. We are anchored outside a spot on the island of Eleuthra called "The Bluff" where we have to wait out some weather. Not a bad place to hang for a few days because the diving is awesome!

Scott..On the hunt...

Mr Sting Ray swimming in the sun

Red banded shrimp tucked in a little cubby hole

 

Peek-A-Boo Puffer...my favorite pc of the day..

 

Lion Fish. Pretty....but very harmful to the reef . They are not indigenous to the Bahamas or Caribbean. They have flourished here due to irresponsible fish tank owners in Florida. We kill every one we can because they are slowly killing the reefs.

Dory!

 

One minute your just swimming......

 

The next minute, you're dinner.

 

Sea Flowers

 

 

We're "stuck" here for a few days due to weather....could be worse.

Love, Michelle, Scott & Jib

 

Posted with Blogsy

Windlass Woes

Dead Calm. Sweet.

The Sea of Abaco was like a large piece of glass on Friday when we left Marsh Harbor for a short little sail (technically...we motored there because there was zero wind) to Lynyard Cay. Lynyard is the jump off point to head to the next group of islands. (Dont forget...there are over 700 islands in the Bahamas) Once we got there, we ran into our buddies Lindsey & Matt from s/v Kindred Spirit and Matt & M.E. from Gone Global Adventures. Yay!!! Great reunion. PLUS...the other boats we crossed the Gulf Stream with...s/v Pegasus & s/v Java were there! We were all about to make a big crossing together again! Just a short distance away in Little Harbor, our friends Brittnay & Dolby from s/v Great Mysterious were also in the big flotilla heading to Eleuthra.

We left Abaco & head south to the little island in the bottom right corner...Eleuthra via the Atlantic & North Providence Channel

 

There were 9 boats total that did the crossing that day. And what a great crossing it was! Last year, this same crossing, I was sea sick for the 1st time & we had 10-12ft seas. It's a 10 hour crossing. That's a long time to be sick. This time....PERFECTION. The Atlantic Ocean was as nice as she is capable of being & we sailed almost the whole way. Engines off.....sails up....cruising!!

Malaika in her glory.

 

Ok... I said "perfection" but we did have a glitch while pulling the anchor in Lynyard. Our wonderful 60 pound Manson anchor holds Malaika in place like a champ but sometimes it buries itself soooo much....it's hard to pull her up. We have a windlass winch, which means that when I step on a button, this amazing winch, mechanically pulls up the anchor. As opposed to pulling up 90 feet of chain & anchor by hand. It's a wonderful invention. Well...Saturday morning my sweet winch just couldn't pull up the anchor by herself. Long story short...the windlass stopped working!!! OMG!! This is not a disaster....you can always pull the anchor up & put it down by hand...it's just A LOT harder. AND....a windlass winch is expensive. I thought I put too much stress on her & she just broke. Of course, Captain Scott was not happy when I yelled to him from the bow that I just broke the windlass. We were very close to another boat at this point & needed to get the anchor up so we could turn...Scott had to run up there, I took the helm, & he pulled up the anchor by hand. Ugh...not a great way to start a 10 hour journey. I was in tears about it. The good news is.....when I explained to our friends on s/v Pegasus what happened..(they have lived on their sailboat for 15 years), Dean knew exactly what was wrong. The clutch in the winch just needed to be tightened up. It took Scott less than 60 seconds to fix. Yay!!! Thank You Pegasus!! Of course, we didn't know about the quick fix until Sunday morning so I was upset for the whole day. I just have to keep in mind that "cruising" is really just fixing your boat in exotic locations. There is always something.

Malaika anchored at Royal Island

Now we're in Eleuthra. We hiked & snorkeled today. The windlass is fixed. All is good.

Sailor Jib

 

Love,

Michelle, Scott & Jib

 

Posted with Blogsy

Junkanoo!!

Awe....don't ya just love that face?!!

Ok....I promised a blog for January 2nd and did not deliver...sorry. It's been a busy couple of days. We had a FABULOUS time at the New Years Junkanoo in Green Turtle Cay. The costumes, the people, the overall vibe of that experience is so amazing. It's almost tribal with the drums & the horns & the dancing. Everybody was hungover from our awesome New Years Eve party but once you get to Junkanoo your spirit is recharged in a way that only drums & music can do. And a little hair of the dog is helpful. I don't think I can find the words to express the fun of that day. I'll just let the pics speak for themselves. Unfortunately, my camera batteries died after the first 6 pictures...however, my friend Dana from s/v Corsair, is a professional photographer & she took 600 pictures. When she went home & edited...she kept 8. So, I think I managed to capture the spirit of Junkanoo in spite of the battery issue. :) My only regret is not being able to take pictures of Monique from s/v Last Waltz, playing the bongo drums like an island native with the band.

The Bahamian police starting to clear the streets for Junkanoo. That pink building in the background is the old jail in Green Turtle...

 

Woo Hoo!!! It's starting!!

 

OH!!!! The absolute JOY of Junkanoo !!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

January 2nd we woke early to head back to Marsh Harbor. Despite getting up at 6:30am we didn't leave Green Turtle until after 12:00 due to fuel dock issues. We arrived in Marsh Harbor @ 4pm dead tired. But then...s/v Corsair invited us over for lobster dinner so we put our big girl & big boy pants on & had an amazing dinner.

Today we got up early again & went straight to work on chores. Scott went to work on the macerator, I did laundry, we had the dinghy motor serviced, reprovisioned the groceries....went to a cruisers potluck for dinner. Wowza! Non-stop until now. Tomorrow we have a couple more chores to do & hope to be sailing south by noon. We are now headed to another set of islands in the Bahamas. 1st stop...Eleuthra. We will sail to Lynyard Cay tomorrow (about 3.5 hours) then the next day cross to Eleuthra. It's about a 10 hour crossing over VERY deep (15,000+ ft) water. It was the only crossing that I was sea sick last year (due to the 10-12 foot waves) so...crossing my fingers it will be a smoother ride this year. The weather is good, the winds are in our favor, so it seems a good time to go.

I'm not sure what my Internet situation will be but hopefully I will be able to do a blog wherever there is cell phone service thanks to my iPad....however, I've already been trying to post this blog for the past 1.5 hours & I'm in the 3rd largest city in all of the Bahamas. There's plenty of cell phone service here. I dont understand why its so slow. Internet service in the Islands is not the high speed, INSTANT information, you get in the States. Don't forget...I'm paying for the painfully slow service I have now....and grateful to have it. Just need a HUGE dose of patience. Huge. Like an overdose. Lord help me.

Stay tuned for the next round of adventures! Love & Miss everybody!

Love,

Michelle, Scott & Jib

 

Posted with Blogsy

Happy New Year!

2013...Take One!

Happy New Year everybody!! Last night was the big New Years Eve party at our favorite, Bluff House Marina and it did not disappoint!! We had a blast. The theme was "Hollywood Nights" so everybody got all glammed up for dinner....Bluff House had all kinds of movie props. FUN! As I mentioned before, going to this party was our Christmas present to each other....a luxury. Fancy dinner, dress up clothes, wine that comes out of a bottle, steak... I was plenty happy with all that & then yesterday morning, Scott surprises me & says we're going to stay at the marina!! Yay!!! Some cruisers go to marinas all the time, but for most of us, that's a real treat. It's like going to a really nice hotel. So extra bonus...we got to take real showers before the party! The water wasn't hot but no matter. I stayed in for 20 minutes anyway.

After our amazing dinner, the party moved to Bluff House's private beach where the new Tranquil Turtle Beach Club made its debut. Literally, construction finished earlier in the day. There was a huge bonfire on the beach, everybody dancing. It was fabulous!!

We're a little tired but no time for recovery .... Later today is the New Years Day Junkanoo!!! I haven't been this excited for a parade since..... Well, since last year's Junkanoo! Check in tomorrow to see all the pictures!

2013. So far, so good.

Love,

Michelle, Scott & Jib

 

Posted with Blogsy

'Twas The Night Before.....

'Twas the night after Christmas, when all through the boat, not a creature was stirring, not even a goat! (sorry, it's the only creature I could think of that rhymes with boat) When all of a sudden, Scott rose out of bed, to see a boat dragging down on us directly ahead!!

Yep. For some reason, we can't figure it out yet, (I think it may have been a Divine intervention) Scott woke up at 11pm & went out for a look see. We do that sometimes at night just to check on things. What he found was a sailboat dragging 5 feet off our bow. EMERGENCY!!!!!! We got our mega watt spotlight & were blasting it at their windows, then we used our fog horn....no response. There was no response because the owner's weren't there! AHHHH!!!!! Bigger emergency!!! I tried calling the beach club on the radio. There was a band playing & I thought they could announce which boat was dragging & the owner's could come help save our boats. No response. I'm so scared at this point my hands were shaking. Meanwhile, Scott is trying to fend off 25,000 pounds of sailboat....I mean literally...at this point he had his hands on her stern trying to push her off our bow as she was starting to swing into us Our fog horn & radio calls did get the attention of other cruisers & just as our boats were about to collide, Cam, our friend from s/v Te Amor, zipped in between the boats with his dinghy & acted like a giant fender. Thank God! And Thank You Cam! Scott was going to do the same thing with our dinghy but our stupid motor dies if it goes faster than idle, so that would have been useless. It happened so fast there wasn't any time for us to pull our anchor & move. Seconds after Cam arrived 3 other guys were there in their dinghys pushing her off to our side, we moved our boat forward a little & whew...crisis diverted for Malaika. However, the boat is still dragging, now headed for another boat! So, Scott & the other guys surrounded her with the dinghys & like little tug boats, they pushed her onto a dock & tied her up. The owner's returned at 1:00am. At 3am I went out to check on things & they were moving their boat!! I screamed at them "Don't you dare anchor next to me!! You almost hit us!!" Scott was so proud of me. They didn't respond but they did go straight to the marina so at least we didn't have to worry about them. I'm not being truthful when I say "owners". This was a rental boat. Renters do not have good reputations with cruisers. We all cringe when one anchors next to us. Some of them are good sailors but many of them are not! We saw these idiots anchor earlier in the evening. They only put out 35-40 feet of chain (not nearly enough...we have 90 feet out) & they never backed down on the anchor to make sure it was set. Then they promptly hopped in their dinghy & left the boat. We should have said something then. I won't be quiet next time. I did email the rental company to tell them all about it. Grrrrrr....

 

Scott & Cam....Sailors AND tug boat captains!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We had a great time at the cruisers potluck. Thank You John & Sylvia from s/v Drakon for putting it all together!

Thanks John! He's the one who kinda looks like Santa!

We even had live music!

 

Santa & Mrs Santa come to the Bahamas too!

Another Santa paid us a visit in the wee hours of the morning. Thank You Sally! It was like finding a present on Christmas morning!

 

On another note, our macerator & dinghy motor continue to give us much grief. Scott took the macerator apart for the 4th time yesterday & now thinks it may be a power issue. Ugh. Poor Scott. Now today, Scott is really sick. I think handling all that poo has actually made him physically ill. He washed his hands in bleach....but that's just so much bacteria up close. No gloves. Please say a little prayer for Scott to feel better. The dinghy motor runs as long as we keep it in idle. We will deal with these issues when we get back to Marsh Harbor.

Don't ya just love Scott's hat?! He made it from palm fronds.

For now, we are looking forward to New Year's. Scott & I are splurging New Year's Eve & going to the big party at Bluff House Marina. It was our Christmas present to each other. Then, on New Year's Day we're going to the Junkanoo! Yay! Can't wait!

Love & miss everybody! This is the 2nd time I've written this blog today. I was trying to post the 1st one & somehow erased it! Hope this one goes through.

Love, Michelle, Scott & Jib

 

Posted with Blogsy

This Blows

Jib is waiting for the storm to roll in...check out his ears

Jib's ready & waiting for the Big Blow....and here she comes!

F. A. Q. 's

Today I thought it would be fun to do a blog about our most frequently asked questions. As you can imagine, we get A LOT of questions about our lifestyle. Quitting your jobs, selling everything you own & moving onto a sailboat (when you've never sailed before) tends to generate a lot of talk. So, here we go.

The #1 most frequent question we get is...."WHERE DOES JIB GO TO THE BATHROOM?". Yep. Not "where was your favorite place?", or "what's the scariest thing that's happened out at sea?". Nope. So many people want to know where Jib poops.

The answer is Jib does his business on deck. We lower a bucket into the water for a good rinse off & we also have scoopers. It's easy. It only becomes a big clean up when Jib swallows too much salt water which causes horrible things to happen to his GI tract. That usually requires the bucket, the scoopers & a deck brush. Luckily, he does that less & less. We are lucky that Jib has taken to this method so easily. Of course, he moved on the boat when he was 12 weeks old so that definitely helped. Jesse would have no part of it. He was nine when we moved on the boat & there was just no way we could convince him to go on deck, which meant several trips to shore everyday. Jib did need a lot of encouragement after living on shore all summer. He held out for 24 hours a couple of times. So when he did go, we had a big celebration & treats & within a few days it was like a lightbulb went off & Jib was like "Oh yeah! I remember!"

# 2 on the list "HOW CAN YOU AFFORD IT?".

Because Scott & I are only 40 ( well, ok...he's 40, I'm 42) this question also comes up a lot. We always tell people..1st of all, we're "semi-retired". Can we afford to never work again? No. However, because we are in health care we can work anytime, anywhere(in the U.S.) HUGE bonus. We also really did sell EVERYTHING. Except for Scott's med school loan (which we'll be paying forever) we have no debt. The other thing that makes working a few months out of the year possible is that Scott & I live CHEAP! We rarely splurge on things like fancy dinners, new clothes, fancy anything. Our expenses are usually around $1000/month. Unless of course we're doing boat projects...precisely why we have to keep working! There's always something!

Nope....We don't get bored.

 

# 3 "DON'T YOU GET BORED?"

This one shocks me. Boredom rarely occurs & it usually starts setting in when we are stuck inside the boat for a few days due to weather. Most of the time we are very content with our life. We go to the beach almost everyday! We read, listen to music, go hiking or explore a new island, swimming, snorkeling, fishing, spear fishing, lobster hunting. We meet people from all over the world almost everyday. It's an amazing life that we feel blessed to have & no....we don't get bored. If we do, a new boat project develops.

Under the sea today during the lobster hunt

# 4 "DON'T YOU MISS WORKING SOMETIMES?"

This one's easy. Um....No. We do not miss working. I miss all my friends at work. I mean, don't get me wrong....we love delivering babies & many of our patients have had profound effects on our lives. Scott still gets goose bumps every time he delivers a baby. It's sort of EPIC to be a part of new human life. You have to have a certain level of passion to do that kind of work & we do but.....life is not all about work. After almost 20 years in health care, we've learned that life is precious & it's unbelievably short. We do plan on trying to get involved with Doctors Without Borders or some similar type of organization & getting back to our health care roots. It's very easy to become jaded when you work in this arena. Especially in America.

# 5 "WHERE DO YOU GO WHEN YOU HAVE A FIGHT?".

I'm not going to lie, sometimes a 38 foot sailboat feels REALLY small. Yes, we get on each other's nerves sometimes. I challenge any couple to try 24/7 together for months & months. Believe me....you'll find out if your relationship has what it takes to make it to forever. If we're having a bad day together we do just find ways to do our own thing & it eventually passes over. Mostly, I think we both realize we just have to get over it because we do live in 38 feet & tomorrow when we're sailing somewhere...we need each other!

The truth is...this life isn't for everyone. But for us....it's everything we thought it could be and so much more. Follow your dreams....whatever they are & I promise you will be happy.

Love,

Michelle, Scott & Jib

XXXOO

 

Posted with Blogsy