GTC - BBQ on the Boat

BJ started her dive lessons, at least the classroom portion of them.
The Bluff House was closed for a private party, so I cooked a seasoning-free steak meal for our friends John and Tina at the boat. We took their golf cart to a local party for Daren who turned 40. The party was the best time we had, especially the Colt 45 Malt Liquors. There was a DJ and lots of Dancing. We did not get home until around 2:30AM that night. At least that is when Brendal had to turn us around because we were lost, going the wrong way on the cart. (John was driving). There are no lights on this island and the roads are not paved on the north end, so it is quite challenging, especially with rocks and roots throughout the “road”.

The Food
Sweet Caroline
Awesome steak and great vegetables, but man is it hard to BBQ and cook in this little boat. I had the microwave, the stove, the toaster oven AND the BBQ going all at the same time.

GTC begining of the Weekend

We said goodbye to our new friends who just got married today. I spent the most of the morning trying to synchronize e-mail and write in the blogs, since I have had so many urgent requests from our avid readers. The weather is perfect: 80deg. with a slight breeze. The water is crystal clear. We are in love with this island. The people, the weather, the scenery and everything else is just great.

BJ started her dive lessons today with Brendal and his wife. It is pretty cool since they are basically teaching her on a one-on-one basis. She did her lectures and then we tooled around on the dink. We made it into New Plymouth settlement and discovered a cute Little city. It is very disorganized and very local. You will walk by a house, then a church, then a hardware store and another house. And they all look the same. It was great!

We were looking for parts for the dink, like the drain plug since the one-way valve does not work properly, so we went into the Black Sound as well as all the hardware stores in the settlement. We found nothing, so I still use the tupperware and the plastic cup as our bailer.

We took the dink over to Pineapples for the Friday night party. As it turns out, the regular musician went home because it was raining a little. We met up with Brendal again and head over to the sundowner, I am beginning to see a pattern... We hung out there for a while, but went home before midnight, because we were both pretty tired. It was a great dinghy ride home at that time as the wind had died down and the water had calmed. Ironically we unknowingly passed the Hark the Sound sailboat in the harbor.

Sorry, no pictures today. We will try harder.

The Food
The Wrecking Tree
I had a grouper sandwich which was to die for. A must have!

The Bluff House
We dined in the fine dining restaurant and placed our order by 5:00PM again. I actually had to call from Brendal's Dive shop to meet the cut off time. They have only 3 sittings; 7:00, 7:15 and 7:30. We chose 7:15 and were hurried along when we were just chatting with our friends from England. BJ ordered the Mahi Mahi, grilled with some sort of peppery sweet salsa over it. It has to be the best Mahi Mahi that I have ever tasted. I ordered the lamb, which was very good as well, but I could not get over the flavor of her fish!

Green Turtle Cay and Check out my Dinghy

After placing a commemorative bottle of GoldSchlager on the Hark the Sound, we left for Green Turtle Cay. Again the wind was against us, so it was a bouncy ride, but it was only 20 miles. We pulled into the Bluff House Marina based on some recommendations from some Charleston folks we met in the West End. The marina had plenty of room and we did see the couple from Charleston. The island is beautiful. We were mistaken for another couple that got married at the Bluff House the day before. Who knew that a big bald guy dating a pretty blond woman could have a case of mistaken identity here in the Bahamas!

It was time to christen the Dinghy! BJ does not like it so much, but it is a blast. We took it through the White Sound over to a local establishment called Pineapples. It is a very local bar with a pool and a dinghy landing. As it turned out we met the newly wed couple, Kevin and Dawn here at Pineapples. They are leaving tomorrow, but their friends, John and Tina will be here a few more days. They are all from England. We hung out with them all afternoon. On the way back, I took all the women on the dink while the other guys took their golf cart back to the dive shop.
I knew I could get some action if I could just show off my dinghy! The maiden voyage and I had three beautiful women on it. Once we got back to the marina (we beat the guys even though we could not achieve a plane with 4 people on it), the girls were trying to help each other. They helped so much that Tina fell into Dawn and Dawn was pushed overboard. I retrieved her, but not before her butt was entirely in the water. I said we hung out all afternoon.

We showered and made arrangements to meet up with the other couple at the Bluff House bar, since they are also staying at the resort. We met up with Kev and John, but there was no sign of the girls. Apparently, they needed sleep after such a fun-filled day. We also met Brendal there. Brendal is the local legendary dive master. We decided to go to another local establishment, called Sundowners (open from 5 until, everday). We all rode on Brendal’s boat and were here until about 1:30AM. I was exhausted so we finally hit the rack awaiting another day after 2 late nights in a row.

The Marina
Bluff House Marina
This looks like a real nice marina with all the services you could need. They have several restaurants, a pool, showers, and laundry. The staff is first rate. They are extremely helpful and very nice. We are on an “inside” slip with only about 3 ft at low tide. The pilings are designed to dock the boats at a slight angle which is interesting.

The Food
The food today consisted of cheese and crackers at The Bluff House bar, but it was really great!

Spanish Cay and Hello to old-new friends

Sorry for the delay. We have had some extremely packed days, with little communication. I will attempt to catch up as quickly as I can. The ride from the West End to Spanish Cay was about 10 miles, and very bumpy. It really started to take a toll on my attitude, as I was trying to navigate waters that I had never been in before. I scrapped my first route after not being that confident in my GPS system in combination of extremely low tides and shallow water. As we rounded our last waypoint, I called into the marina and checked for availability. There was absolutely no problem, as there was only one other boat in the marina… and one on the way in – Hark the Sound. Remember, our friends from W. Palm Beach?

We fueled up, picked myself up off the ground from the price. Hint: never fuel up at Spanish Cay. The Green Turtle Cay is just 20 more miles. As we finished fueling, our sailing friends finished tying up, we checked into the marina and then had to decide on dinner. It appears to be a Bahaman style that your dinner order must be placed well in advance with an approximate eating time, to make sure the food can be prepared. We had dinner with David and Babi, and the food was excellent. My fish was a local snapper, and it was prepared perfectly.

About this time Babi decided that we needed to drink some shots. There were not many options as the liquor selection was not large, so we came to a decision of GoldSchlager. That turned out to be a mistake in hind sight. We stayed in that little marina bar until I don’t know when. We met a Scot from Ft. Lauderdale, Andy.

He was staying on the owner of Spanish Cay’s 100+ ft yacht. I was just happy to not be parked next to it. We had a blast and picked up a lot of local knowledge from the guests, staff and manager of the marina. The next morning we walked the beach and explored a little bit. It was really pretty. BJ saw her fist starfish. It was in the marina so we could not get a closer look, but it was about 6-8in. and bright red. We also saw some interesting lizards and crabs.

The Marina
Spanish Cay Marina
This was a nice marina, but again, the fuel is extremely high. The hospitality was wonderful, and the food at dinner was great.

The Food
Spanish Cay Marina
This is the only restaurant/bar/store on the island. The dinner was excellent, however the breakfast was a little too greasy, especially after the night before. Go with the local fish, but BJ’s free-range chicken was reportedly good as well.

We Made It!!!

We are here. Can't waste any more precious Bahama day . Must find Victory slushy drink!! More to come later.

Wow. We are back. This has been a great day, mostly because we are in the Bahamas! It started out as expected, a slushy drink.
We took a dip in the pool/hot tub (only because the water was so warm). The day has been a little overcast, but hey, it is the Bahamas.



Getting here was not too bad The seas started out pretty calm and got to about 3ft in the gulf. We maintained about 25 knots the whole way, except for 2 stops, BJ had to pee, and the Coast Guard pulled us over. BJ and I differ on the details, but here is my version: We were about 12 miles from Grand Bahama when I saw a flashing light on a vessel of into the distance. It appeared to be pretty large and traveling at a high rate of speed. As it cam closer I noticed that it was a US Coast Guard ship. I kept going wondering if they were going to adhere to the "rule of the road" as I clearly had the right away in a collision course, but of course my hull is not made of steel. About the time I was contemplating a "decisive change of course", someone came on the VHF radio looking for the fast moving express at my coordinates. I responded and we changed to a working channel. He then said "Capt., can you take it down?" I responded with "take what down?" He then said my rate of speed, so I slowed to the bare steerage speed. He then asked, with some amount of animosity in his voice "Capt. did you hear the sirens and see the blue light?" I looked back and saw that the lights were off and responded "I don't see any flashing lights or siren." He sighed and with a lowering inflection, said that they had just shut them off. After another 10 minutes of questioning, we were on our way with no further incidents.


We are not officially the smallest boat in the marina, but we are in the running. We are tied up next to a boat whose owners live in Charleston National (Mt. Pleasant) and across from another couple from Charleston. It is a very small world. We ran onto a boat that was tied up to the same dock in West Palm Beach. Everybody seems to be going to Green Turtle Cay. We will also end up there, but we are going to stop in Spanish Cay first. The following is a where in the picture are Brian and BJ: (hint: Blue canopy and small)





The Marina
Old Bahama Bay Marina

This is a pretty nice resort, but it if more of a stop over than a destination. They have lovely cottages if you wanted a pretty secluded place, and they seem to specialize in families. There are kids running around everywhere. The marina only holds up to 75 ft boats, but obviously that was not a problem for us.



The Food

This is a new section of the blog, so I can remember what I ate and where I ate it, and also, whether it was any good.


Bonefish Folleys

This is the informal restaurant here at the marina/resort. We had lunch (and our first slushy drink). BJ had the lobster salad, and I had the Fresh Grouper sandwich, with Mahi Mahi since they were out of Grouper. The fish was lightly seasoned and grilled served on some Bahamian bread. They were both good, but the sandwich really stood out as a must have.


The Aqua

This is the "fine dining" restaurant of the marina/resort. The attire was entirely mixed from flip flops to sports coats (we were in between). The only thing everyone brought were their kids. The wine list was pretty lame. The pellegrino came in the smallest bottles that I have ever seen. We tried a 3 course meal in an attempt to sample as much as possible. The portions were just right for this. The salads were hit and miss. BJ had the Aqua salad and was disappointed, but I had the table-side Cesar and was pleased. I guess because we are on a tropical island, the lime juice was very prominant in the dressing, which suited me fine.

We tried two different soups for our second course. BJ had the lobster bisque, and I had the "famous" conch chowder. BJs bisque was excellent. Not as creamy as a typical bisque, but with all of the flavor. My chowder was pretty good, since it was a light broth version of chowder with a lot of light spices. So here we were 2 for 2.

Happy New Year!!!

I offer this picture of BJ in our boat as proof that I did nothing but clean yesterday. She looks great in a little black dress. We were ready to go out, but we did not make it out until midnight, in good keeping with our sailor's hours.

We ran into Babby and David again last night. They are the people that I spoke of yesterday, who attempted the crossing a couple of nights ago. We met up with them at a local bar, where we took this picture:

They are from Charlotte, NC and keep their boat, "Hark the Sound" in Georgetown, SC. The left this afternoon attempting another crossing, but since they are on a 43' sailboat, they will be leaving around 10:00PM tonight. We thought we would meet up at the West End in the Grand Bahamas, but I think they are gong to bypass that.

We also met a woman Tina, last night who seemed to know everyone. She lives here in West Palm Beach, so I pried as much local knowledge from her that I could. More on that later...

The West End is still our destination. We will attempt it tomorrow as the seas look favorable. Hopefully we will be drinking slushy drinks in the Bahamas by tomorrow evening!

We decided to take a cab to go to lunch and then hit a grocery store to stock up on the provisions that we either consumed, or forgotten. Remember Tina, from last night? I asked here where the most authentic Mexican food was here in W. Palm. She handed me her cell phone and had her friend tell me the name of the establishment: Tacos al Carbona. She said that they did not really speak English there, so I thought that this would be great. She also indicated it was a few miles away. After giving the cab driver the address that I looked up with my "Q", he was off. When we got on to I-95 south, I started t look up the directions. It was well over 10 miles away. With the meter running, we looked at each other and said "this better be really good Mexican food". Thirty-five dollars later, we were there. It looked pretty scary, but I know that is where the best food comes from. You could only order from the take-out window and eat overlooking a dirty view of a busy 6 lane highway. But wait, there's more. All of the picnic tables were covered with bird droppings, if you could get the birds off of them.

The verdict: Awesome! Even though we were eating off a dirty table from Styrofoam containers, it was just like Mom used to make (if Mom was from Mexico). The rice just like I like it, and great tortillas. The food was great, and here is the ambiance:

That's all for now.

Sunday, a day of rest (for others)

Today I cleaned the boat. I mean really cleaned. It took me all day, but I am starting to get ahead of it, at least until I go into the ocean again. the windshield now has Rain-X on them, so hopefully I won't need my wipers, since they don't work that well anyway. I still have not got to the cockpit, so there is tomorrow...
I talked to a sailor today that confirmed with a local captain that Tuesday should be the day to cross. Her story of attempting to cross last night, made our attempt look like a kiddie roller coaster. We have decided to go the the Grand Bahamas vice Bimini, so we will likely stay here at W. Palm Beach for yet another day.

I don't think BJ minds since she gets to keep working on her tan.

I am writing this post before we go out for the evening. We will try to find the local flare for New Years. I am sure we will make some friends. Sorry it is short, but we have to go.

Searay Rant
I forgot to mention that the windshield wiper arms and motors cam from a Yugo. My Maxum had much better quality wipers. I will attempt to replace them someday with larger wipers that pivot to get more of the window's surface.