Years ago a friend called to me say her husband was making her go the Bahamas and was nearly in tears and 6 months later she called to say her husband was making her come home and she was nearly in tears. We now know how she felt.

I am looking out over a harbor 235 years old with houses built by Loyalists escaping persecution in the newly founded United States. The homes and government buildings are framed by palms of all descriptions and sparkle at a distance in the brilliant sun shine.

Today we are going out of touch for a week or more.

Munjack the first stop, is only a few miles but offers another deserted beach and the wrecks of two ships. We hope the shelling and beach combing to be good.

Two more deserted cays follow they are Powell’s and Allen-Pensacola. The second two were  separate cays until 2004 when they were connected by Hurricane Floyd. If you are following along we will go to Great Sale Cay and then to Mangrove cay. These are names we have mentioned before. Depending on the weather conditions we will either go the 85 miles from Mangrove to Saint Lucy or anchor out on the Little Bahamas Bank over night for the more doable 60 mile run from Memory Rocks to Saint Lucy.

Sad and exciting at the same time. Miss all of our friends and family and hope to have a get together when we return. Timing is still up in the air as Saint Lucy is 1,000 miles from the Chesapeake.

We were asked a dozen times before we left "what do you guys do all day" so here is a composite of a typical day.

I wake up about a half hour before Alois so I make coffee and take a few minutes by myself to read my current book. I go through a book ever 4 days or so. Lots of the stores and marina have book exchanges. Leave a book and take a book. No Charge!

This morning while reading a Spotted Eagle Ray jumped not 2 feet from the boat. I spent and next several minutes watching two of them work their way and round the anchorage until a sleey head came up to ask what was that?. KEWL!

After a leisurely breakfast we went on a dinghy tour. The flats around here are fascinating. We have a "look down bucket" a bucket with a clear bottom which lets us ride slowly in the dink and see the bottom in all its detail. Now, I have said the water is gin clear and that is true but the look down bucket shows all the detail. We went to Finger Cay and on the way found dozens of sea stars, and sea biscuits. There was a deserted beach with a old camp site. The sand on the bottom was pure white and the consistency of powdered sugar. The rock formations are from a couple of million years of calcium carbonate built up and under washed by the surf and wind into ghostly shapes.

Back to the boat for a quick lunch. Hey, there goes a Magnificent Frigate bird. After we ate we fixed our spare jib and spent some time getting things ready for the ocean passage that is in our near future. Filled our water tanks, tied down a few items, puts some items in the lazerette, and moved the boat to a better spot in the anchorage.

Time for a rum and something.  Dinner and maybe a game of dominoes  and of course bedtime is nine thirty or so . So what do we do all day?? I don’t know but damn it is fun.

We came back to Black Sound at Green Turtle to see the annual Abacos Heritage Festival. This has been great. There are several food booths with traditional Bahamian fare and craft booths in addition there is a historical display. All over the Abacos they are requesting DNA samples to put together true family trees. It is fascinating what they have done and how they traced lineages. The original English settlers were loyalists after the American Revolution.

New Plymouth the main town in Green Turtle is Old Bahamas all the way. The most important invention was the Goombay Smash created by Miss Emily. The receipe is a secret but I can come damn close.  The festival is held on the grounds adjacent to the government dock. The Prime Minister was here for the opening ceremony to give you some idea how important they feel this is.

The music has been great. Most special was the Royal Bahamian Defense Force Marching band. You would have to see it to believe it. They are wonderful. Later on Saturday they had a Junkeroo. Traditionally Junkaroos were held on December 25 and January 1st only. These were the only days in a year the slaves had as Holidays. The costumes are reminiscent of Carnival from other areas. The dancers are all decked out in wildly flamboyant and colorful feathers and crepe paper. The music is wild and repetitive and last for about an hour.

Junkaroo is a miss pronunciation of John Canoe. John Canoe was a black slave trader who saw the light and captured a Dutch/English fort  freed the salves and held off the whites for years becoming a hero to all slaves. The Junkaroo is to celebrate this historical event.

We will leave Green Turtle tomorrow and head north to spend a few days on deserted cays wandering the beaches and enjoying the water. The weather has finally changed. The trades have set in the the wind is 10 to 15 east and south east for the foreseeable  future. This weather pattern makes for a good crossing of the Gulfstream. We should be back in the States in a week or ten days. At that point we are still 1,000 plus miles from home. We will see you when we see you.

Jack and Alois soaking up the sun!!!

I don’t know where to start and I am pushed for time as the tide waits for no man and I need tide to get into Black Sound.

We left Great Guana two weeks ago to find some one to help with a mysterious oil leek. We tried to get into Man O War Key but the weather would not cooperate. Wind on the nose. Made it to Marsh Harbor and found Fritz. He found what no one else could. The dip stick on the main engine was leaking at the block but you could only see it with the engine running. I can’t get far enough over to see the problem. He crawled into the engine compartment while the engine was running(not me)and found the problem. We got it fixed and not a drip is to be seen on my pristine white oil absorbent pads.

Marsh Harbor is the largest settlement in the Abacos and is the third largest in the Bahamas. They real grocery stores and stuff. They get two or three supply boats a day and constant water ferry service to all the local islands. We ran into Rich and The Queen on Dance Aweigh again and they have become special friends. The Jib Room has steak night on Saturdays. It is the best meat we have had since we left home in November.

After several days in Marsh Harbor we left for Hopetown. The sailing here has been unbelievable. I have run the engine only 8 hours since we left West End three weeks ago. The winds have been too much of a good thing until yesterday. Today it is down to 10 to 15 East to Southeast and the waves have laid down a lot.

Hopetown is the prettiest town we have seen yet. No vehicles are allowed in the old section. Good shopping, not that we can afford anything. Great harbor class A and protected on all sides. The famous candy striped red and white lighthouse that everyone has seen in  pictures is in Hopetown. It is officially the Elbow Reef light. We climbed the 101 steps and the view is worth it.

The reef here is something to see. It has been blowing 20 plus knots the whole time and the surf crashing out there is awe inspiring. One ship a month wrecked in the Abacos before the light was built in 1864. The original kerosene light and Fresnel lens are still in use. Every two hours a light keeper must wind the mechanism to keep the lamp lit as it has always been.

We reluctantly left Hopetown to go back to Marsh Harbor for one day to get a prescription filled for me.

After one more night with Dance Aweigh, we left for Great Guana to post this missive. Later today we are off to Green Turtle again.

Green Turtle is the host city for the Bahamian Heritage Festival this week end. The list of things to do is several pages in their Internet site; too much to mention here. More about the festival later.

After this weekend we plan to use the next weather window to cross back over the Gulf Stream and head home. I have promised Shannon we will be there no later than the first of July.

Jack and Alois, Still in Paradise!!!

What a day! Nippers is a beach front bar and restaurant over looking the Atlantic. The surf crashes in on the reef and the high water mark and sprays in the air. What a sight. On Sunday they have a pig roast that is famous through out the Abacos. $20 and all you can eat. Wonderful!

People come from all over. A ferry runs from Hope Town and Marsh harbor. They feed more people than the entire permanent population of the Cay. Some of the girls wear small bathing suits. To quote Buffet "it is amazing what they pass of as a bathing suit". I can’t say as I mind.

Then we went down to Grabbers (Bed Bar and Grill) where a local group plays the saws (yes saws) and sings songs of the Bahamas. A Grabber is also a drink that we can now highly recommend.

We are anchored right off Grabbers and it is very convenient to dink ashore as it puts us right in town.

We met a group of seven from Hungary on a Moorings catamaran with Kevin the captain. They were great and wanted to know all about cruising .

This sure beats the hell out of yard work.

Jack and Alois

This place is too cool to leave too soon. Since  my last missive we have had a ball. We met Jim and Connie from Wilton Creek Virginia and have spent the last two days with them. Turns out they know our good friends Joe and Carolyn Schot.

We went to Pineapples on the beach for sundowners and Cracked Conch. They crack the conch right there at the waters edge. Can you say FRESH!

The happy hour special was a local concoction of pineapple juice, orange juice, secret juices and lots of rum. That would be lots of rum. Hey honey, do you remember coming home the other night? I thought not.

Today we rented a gas powered golf cart (the main form of island transportation) with Jim and Connie. Out we went to explore and got lost. Well the good news is if you get lost on an island just a couple of miles long you get to see it all. And we found Coco on the north end. This a great reef. We snorkeled for two hours all told. The fish were fine but the coral was fantastic. Jim and Connie said that it was much better than some of the dive trips they have taken to exotic parts of the world.

After snorkeling we explored White Sound on the south end of the island and then back to New Plymouth. The settlement  dates from the time of the American revolution. Loyalists sought refuge here after they lost it all in places like Charleston, Fairfax, and New York. It was a hard life for many of them and some stayed and some returned to England.

This is old Bahama not the glitzy tourist stuff.  

Not much of a town here, and certainly not worth going ashore. But opps, we have a oil leak. Next morning we top off the oil and sail to Green Turtle Cay. Here we can get help if we need it. we sail to 100 yards of shore and the entrance to Black Sound on the southern end of the Island. Once inside two cruisers come by to see if they can help. Will from Anteris and Art from Conch Pearl meet us at the dock for a look. It is the kind of community that cruisers have with each other. Will as it turns out is a mechanic back in the world and he and I change the fuel filter and take a long look at the engine. No major leaks obvious. Oh well. On Tuesday  I contact Jody a local who is a great mechanic. We worked together for four hours and found several small issues and fixed them. Turns out I have all the parts we need and we perform all periodic maintenance. Prior planning prevents piss poor performance. Don’t you love the literary style that includes alliteration?

Jody pronounces the boat much better and that it will live. With all the motoring and sailing we have done in the last five months the boat has performed admirably . We have now made friends with Jody and his wife. Alois is repairing some canvas for him and I get to go fishing. I love how this works.

We are staying at a brand new yacht club  for 50 cents a foot. The price of a mooring ball in Florida, kewl!!! Great people, and we have made reservations to come back in two weeks for the island heritage festival.

We will leave here tomorrow and work our way down to Guana Cay and then on to Man o War , Hope Town, Treasure and Marsh Harbor. It is a hard life.

Before we leave Bimini I must tell you all about Piccolo Pete. Now Pete owns the De Paris night club in Bimini. Pete is 95  years old and is the descendant of a Scottish father and a Bahamian mother. His features are those of a white man with red hair but his color is mahogany. Pete was a fishing guide is the heyday of Bimini fishing just before world war II. He knew them all, Hemingway, Farington and Zane Grey . Now Pete has a franchise from the government and you can get in for only $500,000 that is guaranteed to provide income of $20,000 a week. Wait,wait put your check book  away the franchise is a little shaky we are not really sure what it is and believe me only Pete can explain it. I suggest you get the next plane out to Bimini and he will go through it with you . Worst case you have a wonderful evening with one of the last of the great ones.

We sailed early the next day to West End on Grand Bahama. Some sailing and some motoring but a good day. One of the other boats caught a Wahoo. We stayed in the Old Bahama Bay club and had dinner there with the crews of Dance Weigh and Conch Clipper.

The next morning is was up early to catch the tide to go through Indian Rocks which can only be transited at high tide. The wind built and we sailed and how we sailed past Mangrove Cay to Great Sale Cay. Cay is pronounced KEY. The wind built up and we averaged over 6.8 knots which is flying to you non sailor types who are bored by my ramblings.

Up early again on Saturday to sail above Little Sale Cay and into the Sea of Abaco.

This was the day we pay our money for. Winds at 15 to 20 on a close reach all day. Heeled over she was off with a bone in her teeth. We averaged 7.7 knots with nice periods of up to 8.6. Did I mention that 6.8 was flying well hang on for this is a hell of a ride. I finally had to reef when the wind was consistently over 20 knots and we slowed down to only 7.8 knots. Today we smoked them. Nobody could keep up with us.

We all wonder why we work and the answer is to enjoy a day like this.

If you ever wonder where it is happening it is happening out here.

Yesterday Alois spent most of the day repairing canvas for Jody but we did get in a dinghy tour in the afternoon. I had promised her a deserted beach but failed as there was a Bahamian casting a net about 2 miles from where we came ashore. This is a great beach, maybe three miles long and wrapping around from the sound side to ocean side. The shells were not what we would have liked but we did find some interesting things for the sand table at hone. I found a pipe organ sponge. All included it was three cubic feet. Since it was dead I broke off a small section because it is interesting.

Today we will sail to Great Guana cay if the Whale Passage permits. The Whale as it is known locally is an open passage to the Atlantic and can form what is called a rage. A rage can have standing waves high enough to be class 5 rapids or more. Not to be taken lightly. We can duck into No Name Cay if is too bad when we get there.

Great Guana has some fun things to look forward to. "Nippers" is a place on the reef as well as a restaurant. We hope to snorkel there as well go to the pig roast on Sunday.

The boats are moving out for the states in droves. Each window of weather will have dozens of boats trying to make it. Chris Parker, the local SSB weather guru, is busy all morning routing people across. Chris is good with wind speed and direction predictions as well as sea state, which is wave direction, height and the period between troughs. Sea state is the most important because waves that are too high and breaking are beyond dangerous. Good to have contact with the weather router.

Yesterday we waited for the tide to get out of Green Turtle Cay’s Black Sound and headed for Great Guana. The course leads through Loggerhead Channel which is one dangerous piece of water. Let me try to describe it to you. As you sail north east from No Name Cay you can see Whale Cay to starboard and the extension of the inner reef off the southern end of No Name. The great Atlantic Ocean rollers crash on the outer reef about a mile and a half out to sea and send spray 12 feet into the air.  The 20 plus knot breeze does not help much. The swell reforms as the tide and ocean swell work against each other. We waited until high slack tide to minimize the effect but still the rollers came on. The passage is a little over a quarter of a mile wide between the end of No Name reef and Whale Cay. Ten foot seas crashing onto the east side of Whale sending foam high into the air. To sea all you can see is crashing surf and constant breakers. Total concentration is the order of the day. Once north of Whale you sail a  few hundred off shore with breakers on both sides for two miles. Then you pick up the ship range and markers. The Bahamas are notorious for not having markers or they are broken. Here they exist and it is a great relief to follow them in between Bakers cay and the north west end of Great Guana. Once in the lee of the cay there is some relief but the wind built to 25 knots. At least the waves moderated. I was very glad to pick up a mooring ball off Dive Guana. The total sail was less than 15 miles but enough excitement for a month of sailing the Chesapeake.