New Year's Eve

We took advantage of a nice day to reorganize and clean the boat. Well not the whole boat just some of it. It was a nice day in St. Augustine. We had dinner last night, and lunch today at the Conch House Restaurant. The food is pretty decent. So far the best item is the blackened fresh grouper with the parmesan red potatoes. I would stay away from the “award winning” conch chowder. It is supposed to be spicy and was forewarned by our waitress. It was not spicy, and really did not have a lot of flavor. There were more green bell peppers than conch in it. The baked mahi-mahi was good, but the shrimps and scallops that accompanied it were way overcooked. It took me three tries to get a bottle of wine, as apparently we were operating off an old list.

The boat listed heavily to starboard and is leaning to the aft pretty steep. We tried to get more organized than we readjusted our heavy items in the process to counterbalance the list we had. I have to make a point that Searay did not really design the storage lockers in the boat very well. All of the big lockers are on the starboard side, along with the refrigerator and freezer. We filled the freezer with at least 30 lbs. of meat in Charleston. BJ and Bill spent several hours with the vacuum sealer that Terry had given us. All in all, we balanced it a little better, but it is still not perfect. I am even considering adding artificial ballast to offset the lists, but I really do not want to ADD weight to the boat.

I took the sunny warmish opportunity in the afternoon to wash the boat. It was obvious that that has not happened in a while. I did not do an excellent job, but I got a pretty thick layer of grime off of it.

I then went to West Marine to try to get parts to repair different systems. They did not have much, in the way of supplies so I basically came back with a hose and some snaps. We discovered the snap-in canvas floor runners before we left, and I am going to install the snaps in an attempt to save the carpet. I feel obligated because on the initial name changing ceremony, our neighbor Jennifer offered to clean the extremely stained carpet in the salon. Not only did she keep to her word, but she cleaned the carpet in the entire boat. A big thanks goes out to Jennifer from the ‘hood.

We ate a nice Filet Mignon with beef and mushroom risotto next to fresh broccoli florets dinner at Café ESweet before we went out to party at the marina bar to ring in the new year. BJ was a big hit (imagine that) with the band and the other partiers. We danced the night away to some funky sounds from the Brian Turner and Rip Tide Band. As we got to know the band members, we learned that the guitar player Brian Turner’s son and was just visiting from California. He left us his contact information and when we went to hi myspace page, he is really a very talented blues guitarist. If you are interested check out http://myspace.com/thebenrobinsonband. I am sure he would appreciate it and I think his music is great.

Cast Off!

Well we got underway today, finally! Thanks to Terry and Bill, we had the formal name changing ceremony around 11 o’clock last night. This is very important as Neptune needs to be appeased with much libation in the form of champagne poured in precise timing and direction as I gave the water and wind gods our request for good fortune under the boat’s new name: Executive Sweet.

We are about a week late in our departure so to make up for that, we decided (or it was decided for us) that we would take a trip with about a weeks worth of adventure. I gained a lot of experience on today's trip so I will share some lessons learned here.

The Plan
Cast off from home port Mt. Pleasant, SC
Arrive in St. Augustine Florida (around 229 miles, as the boat goes)

Reality
Arose at 0500 to take last minute items to the boat and check the weather. At around 0530 I went in to tell BJ that maybe we should either wait one day, or go down the IntraCoastal Water Way (ICW). Going through the ICW, or “the ditch" (yes even the acronym has a nickname) is painfully slow and would take about 3 days to get to St. Augustine. Not only that, but it is often narrow with lots of obstacles so if we did the ditch, we would have to wait until the fog lifted. Oh, I did not tell you about that. We woke up to less than ¼ mile visibility due to dense fog. BJ decided she had gotten up early for once so we should not waste that occasion. We cast off at 0615 just in time to get over the shallow hump in front of the house. I did not notice the reduced visibility until we hit the Wando River. There I realized that the fog was as bad as the weather channel had predicted. I just put on the new radar/chart plotter the week before, so I did not really know how to use it efficiently. Plus the radar did not check out properly in the sea trials and the echoes are reading about 0.1 mile closer that they actually are which is better than the other way.

With the fog so thick, I did not want to go in the ICW because it is too difficult to navigate and the radar was not 100% calibrated, so we slowly headed out into the Charleston Harbor using one of my newly added equipment: the fog horn. We cruised out of the harbor at 9 knots and turned south, where I tried to use my recently plotted route and new autopilot. It did not work as I thought it would, but I managed to program the autopilot to go to a waypoint that I marked just outside of St. Augustine, 211 statute miles away. Once we were finally out in the big water and I got used to (trusted) my radar, we went ahead and brought her up to 22 knots heading south. There were 1-2 foot rollers, so it was not that bad.

The fog finally lifted at 1040, but the waves were now running 3-4 feet so the ride got a little uncomfortable for the crew. We learned that Simba is not short for Simbad the sailor. I looked down to the cockpit and told BJ that I thought the dog was seasick because she was kind of foaming at the mouth. Since we were in heavy seas and the sea spray was coming in the cockpit along with the diesel fumes, I figured that Simba would more enjoy the bridge of the boat so BJ carefully coaxed her up in between the sudden rolls and jerks of the boat in the now 4 foot waves. That decision may not have been the best because after about 15 minutes, she left her breakfast in the corner of the helm, although she seemed to feel a little better after that although she shed profusely. I wish I had as much hair as she left behind in the cockpit and bridge area.

It was a long day in really rough seas. At one point I think there were 6 footers and they were stacking up onto each other, which made it very difficult to find any type of trough to steer the boat into. BJ and Simba spent the entire day laying down in the front of the bridge.

Me on the other hand, was learning a new skill; how to find and dodge thunderstorms using the radar. There were several thunderstorms on the way down, and that is particularly significant and the winds around these storms were stronger and they shifted directions often, which make the waves larger and more unpredictable. At this time we had to slow down to 20 knots in an attempt to keep the boat from hitting down too hard. I had no idea what the cabin looked like in these seas. We spent over a week loading it up, and there is a lot of stuff everywhere, I just hoped it was everywhere that we placed it

When we were about 9 miles from the inlet, the fuel gauges read empty, but my fuel log that I had been keeping indicated that I should have had plenty of fuel. I noticed something on the radar, but I could not really see anything because of the glare from the sun glistening off the water. I then saw what looked like a bunch of fish or something jumping out of the water so I slowed down to identify it. When I came off plane, my starboard motor quit and my bilge pumps started to run. I restarted the motor and had BJ steer the boat towards the waypoint. We were in pretty rough seas since a bunch of afternoon thunderstorms had just passed by, so going down into the bilge was not an appealing thought, but I needed to know how much water we were taking on, so down I went. Oh I can’t tell you how great diesel smells when it is hot, noisy and I am trying to balance myself from the 3 foot waves hitting the boat abeam to, and I am leaning over moving parts trying to find the source of the water that is pouring in from the outer stringers. I narrowed it down to a leaky stuffing box from the port side rudder, and it wasn’t leaking enough to stop our travels.

Now that I was back at the helm, I started getting nervous about the fuel gauges reading “E”, so I finished the leg at about 18 knots which gave me the best mileage on plane. At this time, we decided to start calling marinas. We wanted to stay at the municipal marina so we could walk to the historic district of St. Augustine; however they were completely booked for the New Year’s weekend. I tried another marina and there was no answer. So we decided to get fuel at the municipal marina and figure out where to go from there. Just as we cleared the inlet, a massive thunderstorm hit and reduced visibility to next to nothing, so I was driving in a strange port using GPS and uncalibrated radar only. I finally found the marina, passed under the Bridge of Lions and tied up at the fuel dock. The diesel price was $3.63 per gallon and after the reconciliation; I was about 40 gallons off with my crude fuel log so I will have to make some adjustments to how I calculate fuel burn for the future.

While fueling, a man came by and said to try the Conch House Marina since he just cancelled his reservation of his 32 foot boat. It was worth a shot, since all other marinas were booked, and BJ did not really want to anchor off. We had a little luck as it was the cancellation that allowed us to move over to the Conch House Marina on the back side of Anastasia Island. We pulled in the pitch dark and found our slip and a couple of dock hands standing by. We will probably be here for 3 to 4 days due to a cold front coming in with a lot of wind. We need the time to get the boat situated anyways, so we will make good use of our stay and enjoy ringing in the New Year here in St. Augustine.



The Conch House Marina

This is a real nice marina with an extremely helpful staff. There is an on-site restaurant, a little bar, and a motel. The ship’s store is not very well stocked, but there is a West Marine store less than a $10.00 cab ride away. There are fuel docks here, but I already fueled up so I did not look at the prices.

The Big Island

We are here in the US! I am sorry for the last week of no updates, but between being at the Atlantis with so much to do, and Bimini with no internet, I have not had time. This is just a quick update to let you know we are alive, but I will get back to filling in the posts soon with pictures. We are in Florida for the Miami boat show until Sunday. We will be driving back with my partner Dave.

P.S. The Coast Guard got theirs. I go boarded in sight of leaving Bimini. No problems, except 45 minute delay in very rough waters.

ELVIS Has Left the Abacos

Well, after two days in Little Harbor moored outside of Pete's Pub, BJ wants to find some new scenery. The seas are predicted at 4-6 and the winds are 15-20Knots from the NW. There is an anchorage just around the point about 10 miles south of here, as our destination is south, we did not want to back track up to the north and we are in the southern tip of the Sea of Abaco. I plotted the trip to Cherokee (10 miles south) as well as Nassau and Harbor Island. I thought it might be tolerable since the wind would be to our back and we were also on the leeward side of the island. Soon we stowed all of our gear, had a little breakfast and by 11:30AM we were off.

We left Little Harbor at low tide, and there were times my depth sounder was reading less than 3 feet, which is what we draw, but we made it out safely, and started to plane. We went through the cut, which look a lot nicer than when we came in due to the wind direction. Right outside the cut was the first waypoint. We had to decide whether to go SE for Nassau, SW for Harbor Island or hug the coast to go to the settlement. BJ thought it was a little rough but passable so we decided to go to Harbor Island, since it was only 50 miles through the open water vice 80 miles to Nassau.

The waves were 2-4feet with long rollers so I tried to pick a speed and direction to make our journey somewhat pleasant. It worked for a while, but then the waves started to grow. About half way there, my crew was horizontal in the back of the cockpit trying to keep her sea-sickness under control. The waves were more like 3-5feet at this time, and it was really starting to get hairy. We ran like this for a couple of hours. I would try to tack out to sea for the best ride, then turn back to our target waypoint. Occasionally we would hit it pretty hard. I was climbing up the back side of the waves, and surfing down the front side, without being able to keep the right pace to stay in between the peaks.

Well, at least we were over half way through, it should lighten up the closer we get to land. That is what got me through the rough water until we got closer to land. I did forget about one little thing when it comes to the sea; the closer you get to land the more undertows and rips you get. So as we closed within 10 miles of Northern Eleuthera, the waves got bigger (at least 6feet), and the period between peaks got smaller. This was like a rodeo, but I could not get off after 8 seconds. We (I-- BJ was still lying down in the back) would be looking straight up, then it was everything I could do to keep the bow above water. The distance between the peaks were only about twice my boat length. I tried every speed and tack I could to try to get a better ride, but I did not have any luck, so we motored through.

Then I saw it! Land, and the waypoint was rapidly approaching on the GPS. Finally it would smooth out. We still had another 15 miles to go after we got to the island, but at least we would be in protected waters. so I thought. As we headed east at the waypoint, only about 20 yards from the shoreline where the water was breaking up to 15 feet in the air, I realized that the protected waters, was really the only passage between N. Eleuthera and the shallow breakers north of it. So now we are basically in some really rough surf along the beach and my boat is parallel to the waves. I did not want to go too fast because we were really close to the shore, and the depth was getting extremely shallow.

I should take the time now to tell you that most people opt to pick up a pilot in Spanish Wells to take you Harbor Island because it is very tricky and extremely shallow. This was our original plan, BUT the water was so rough, and we would have had to turn west at the waypoint, PLUS BJ was not doing well, so I figured we would just trod through. OK, back to the adventure.

I have been studying the colors of the waters for nearly a month, but still get leery around the light teal colored waters, especially with the brownish looking rocks that seem to be right at the surface. So with this in mind, I am picking my way through the surf for about 1/2 mile studying the GPS, looking at the depth sounder and using my visual readings. I should also mention that I do not have the paper charts for the Far Bahamas, so as soon as we headed SE this morning, we were literally "off the charts". We finally rounded the corner south into the protected waters, and my crew rejoined me for the remainder of the trip. I used the GPS and zig-zagged through the tricky waters until we had Valentines Marina directly ahead of us.

I called the marina and the dock hand met me at the dock. Docking was surprisingly easy even with the wind. He asked where we had come from and was aghast when we told him "The Abacos". We were the only boat to pull into the marina today, and amazingly enough the only boat I saw on the water. Hmmmm, I wonder why!?!?

So here we are: Harbor Island.

More Hope Town

I dropped BJ off at the beach and came back to the boat to do some work, since the Outer Islands Internet (oii) network was back up. As I was about to go rescue her from the impending rain, our friends on VOILA came and docked next to use at the Hope Town Marina. I told them of VHF that it was an OK marina as long as they did not need showers or the bathrooms. They don't care, because they are fairly self-contained in their 43' Aft Cabin.

Mike and Karen had asked if I could give them a ride in my dinghy, since that is the only way to get out of this side of the harbor. While I was waiting, the rain clouds opened up and it started pouring. I told them I had to go pick up BJ because she was stuck on the beach. They did not want to go in the rain anyways. As soon as I got 100 feet off the dock, it really started to rain. I ran over to the public docks, jumped off and started to run over to the beach, when my flip flops fell off. They don't stay on if they are wet. So I picked up my sandals, and held them as I ran to the beach in my bare feet. As I passed Captain Jacks, I heard my name being called out through and open window. I stopped and saw BJ and our friends David and Michelle from RIPPLE. This was the only place she knew so she ducked in there when it started raining. The rain was continuing, so the only thing we could do is try the local concoction: The Hammer Jack. It tasted like most of the other local drinks but it was pretty good.

When the rain stopped, I ran across to the marina again to pick up Mike and Karen. We had a mini reunion at Captain Jacks and had lunch together. During lunch Mike told us that following his check-in at the marina, the dockmaster asked him to follow. They went around a building into some wooded area. Once they were in between two buildings, he took a key and unlocked a door and said "I heard someone tell you that our showers are not that good, so I just thought you should see that they are pretty nice." We all laughed, and I added that he probably did not show you the functionality, or the lack thereof. After lunch we went our different ways as I was hosting dinner this night, and RIPPLE was supposed to bring the appetizers.

Dinner was awesome. The VIOLA folks retired early, because they are going to leave tomorrow since the weather will be nice. We decided to skip Harbor Island and stay until Saturday so we did not! At 11:15 my dock neighbor got upset and knocked on the boat for us to turn it down since it was already midnight. (Sound familiar?) I did not tell him that his clock was wrong, but we did take the party down below and shut off the sub-woofer. There were no more complaints after that. We had a great time and made plans to enter the RIPPLE in the regatta that was taking place on Wednesday.

Hope Town -- The Highs and Lows

It was quite windy on Monday morning, and it looked as though the winds were going to be steady. Since we were in an outside slip, we figured we would rather rock all day in Hope Town, where the harbor is more protected. I stopped by Rich and Carol's boat and helped them fix their WiFi antenna before we left. We called our friends from RIPPLE, but there was not answer, so we sailed on.



It was a lumpy ride, but as we got in behind the light house it was very smooth. As we were looking for a marina, we ran right past RIPPLE. They apparently got up earlier than we did since they only do about 5 knots. We were trying to go to the Sea Spray marina, but found out it is in the White Sound to the south, not in the Hope Town Harbor, so we opted to stay in the Hope Town Marina.


This marina is not very nice at all. The cruising guides are obviously out of date, as there is no longer a restaurant, nor other nice facilities. The showers are not very nice, and there is water pressure only in the women’s side, so that is where I showered. With only 2 boats in the marina, it wasn't a big risk. The marina however provides a service for those that fell behind in their reading and placed a September 2005, as well as a May 2006 Vogue Magazine in the women's shower. An experienced I would have missed entirely had the men's showers worked properly.


We walked over to the lighthouse and climbed the 101 steps to be 89 feet above sea level. We had some great panoramic views of the islands. This light house is still active, and it burns kerosene fuel to illuminate the sky through a perfectly balanced rotating lantern. The lenses are 4 inch thick diamond shaped glass pieces stacked along a horizontal plane. The glass is fixed and surrounds the light house.

We made arrangements to meet David and Michelle tomorrow, and had lunch at Capt. Jacks. We both had awesome grouper sandwiches. For dinner we ate at the Harbor Edge restaurant. It was excellent. I had the Hog Fish Snapper and BJ had the Lobster paradise (another recipe I am going to steal). We started it with some chowder and seafood bruscetta that was out of this world. the prices were very reasonable for the Bahamas. We retired to the boat for a quiet evening after that.

The other pictures here on the bottom are taken from the light house looking different directions. I added the Man Of War Cay and Marsh Harbor lables over their respective land masses.

Nippers Reunion -- Pics Added

Saturday night was steak night at the Jib Room. The ribs were good last Wednesday so we thought we would try again. We only had one plate, because the amount of food served there is massive. The NY strip was grilled to perfection. Probably the best steak in the Abacos, except for mine of course! We ended up at Snappa's again since that Bahamian boy band was back over there. They were just as good as the night before.

On Sunday we decided to go back to Nipper's for the pig roast. We did not get to eat any last week. We convinced our new friends from VIOLA to come over as well. We got to the dock to a Green Turtle Cay Welcoming committee. It was Vern, her husband our friend Darren (remember the birthday party on GTC?) and a few others. They had pulled up on the dock and saw our boat and were excited to see us. The TRUE BLUE guys had gone home for a week, so we missed them. We walked up the hill to nippers once again. When we arrived we were greeted by the Nipper's staff immediately, and we was some more old friends from GTC, David and Michelle and their dog Mojo from RIPPLE. RIPPLE is a sailing vessel and David and BJ got their final dive certifications from Brendal's together.

Their were many other folks that we had made friends with before like Betty who is sailing on BAD BETTY and her dog Igi (sp?). At sundown there was the main event: Leg wrestling. Mike from VIOLA had been preparing for days, but in the end it was the reining champion; BJ who took the match. Mike, trying to save face had a second match with his wife Karen, but at best I would call it a draw. Mike, you need to keep the regiment up for next yer!

Once the games were over, we said our good-byes to EZ the bartender again, and head for the dock for a small dock party. On the way to the boats we were stopped by our old friends from last week, Rich and Carol. They are from NJ and are building a house here on Guana Cay. He gave me a couple of pounds of freshly caught Yellowfin Tuna. I graciously accepted, and promptly set up the BBQ on SWEET CAROLINE. I cut it into loin cuts and peppered the outside, then lightly grilled them We did not have soy sauce, so Karen came up with a sweet mango Tai sauce, which I infused some wasabi and drizzled over the cross-cut seared tuna bites. All of which around a watercress salad center. The fish was excellent. We danced around until the late hour of about 9:00PM where everybody was happy and tired, so we ended the party and went to our respective boats for the night. The plan tomorrow is to go to Hope town. We convinced RIPPLE and VIOLA to join us down there.

Bahamas Geography - As Far as I know it!

OK, today will be a more of a lesson on the geography of our trip. Before that, however, I must update you on our night last night. We went to Snappa's for Dinner and live music. The band was reportedly all less than 25 years old, with the majority of them around 17 or 18. The music was great. We were in the middle of the largest crowd we have been in since we crossed over to the Bahamas. This was the thing to do on a Friday night. They played a mixture of pop, reggae, and most importantly Bahamian music.

So here are the charts that I was able to create by using the tracks off the GPS unit. They are sometimes hard to decipher, so I made different views. You may be able to print them out for better resolution. The first map is from West Palm Beach to the West End in the Grand Bahamas. It also shows the overall path we have ventured so far, but I will put those up in more detail.

Here is a map with all of the days of travel broken out by color. There is still no detail on the water and some of the smaller land masses do not show up. Here is the recap of the travel days:

• January 3, 2007 -- West End Bahamas to Spanish Cay
• January 4, 2007 -- Spanish Cay to Green Turtle Cay
• January 13, 2007 -- Green Turtle Cay to Great Guana Cay (Sailed through the Don't Look Rock passage)
• January 16, 2007 -- Great Guana Cay to Marsh Harbor (Stopped at Man Of War Cay for lunch)

The following charts are more detailed and show the depths of the waters. Generally the water is between 9-16 feet in the Little Bahama Bank (North of the Grand Bahamas Island) and the same in the Sea of Abaco (the water in between Great Abaco Island and all the little Cays we are visiting).

I tried to isolate the Sea of Abacos on the following chart. This is where we have spent the most time. The eventual plan is the go south below the Abacos and head west back to Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

Marsh Harbor - The Big City

We have been here for a couple of days trying to get all the supplies and tools required for the minor repairs on the boat. I have also been trying to get more reliable Internet so I can keep the posts coming. I have a request from one of our faithful readers to put a map up to show where we have been. I will work on that tomorrow. If there are any other requests, just post a comment.

We ran into our friend David from Hark The Sound. We went to the world famous Jib Room and had one of the last plates of ribs with him. Once dinner was over, BJ made some new friends that were on their last night from New Jersey. They got tho whole place dancing to whatever type of music they played. Even the "regulars" got up and danced. I heard a comment that it has not been this lively in a long time.

There we also met a couple that are staying in the Harbor View Marina with us. Mike and Karen are from Wrightsville Beach, NC. They have a 42 foot Searay Aft-Cabin named Voila. They took a taxi to the Jib Room, so I offered them a ride back to the marina in my pimp-mobile dinghy. They loved it. They invited us for dinner the next night on board the vessel Voila. Karen cooked some fresh shrimp and Mahi Mahi they picked up in Freeport. I made the famous Water's Edge lump crab meat bruschetta with some fresh Stone Crab claws we picked up at the local fish market. I used fresh Bahamian bread that we bought in Guana Cay. They tasted great and got us thinking about our friends back on Shem Creek. Dinner lasted until very early in the AM with a lot of dancing and laughing on the boat. The hospitality was great and we can't wait to get back together with Mike and Karen.

We have modified our plans so we are staying here until Sunday, where we will head back to Nippers to meet up with lots of friends from the past, and our new friends that are also planning on going. We will then make it down to Hope Town and ultimately around the southern side of the Abacos.

The Marina

Harbor View Marina

This is a small but very nice marina. We have met the owner's mother and dogs and all are nice.

The Food

Conch Inn (Curly Tails)

This is very average. We had dinner and breakfast there and were not impressed. the portions are large though.

Geno's Cafe

Local joint that had the best peas and rice, but since the fresh snapper on the plate had eyeballs and bones, BJ could not eat it.

Snappa's

Pretty good burger. No French Fries. This is a first in the Bahamas.

Lunch at Man Of War Cay

Here is the sunset from our marina at Great Guana Cay. It was really spectacular and the tradition is to blow a conch shell at sundown. A little distracting at first, but kind of cool.

Well, yesterday we headed out of Great Guana Cay to Marsh Harbor. We decided to stop at Man Of War Cay for lunch and to check out the sights. There is not a lot of activity there, as most people are part of the boat repair industry. And did I mention it was a dry Cay? There is only one restaurant, 2-3 grocery markets (can't call them stores) and a few other gift shops. The thing that is impressive about this island is how well-kept the entire island is. Even the individual homes are really nice and manicured.

We walked around for about 30-40 minutes and saw the entire settlement and most of the beaches. There are more beaches, but there is no more settlement or people. We then had to laboriously wait for the only cafe to open at 11:30AM for lunch. Amazingly, we were the first customers of the day and did not eat until 12:30. The food was just OK, with no flavor added. It did fill up, thought with almost a dozen people. She was slammed!

After lunch, we headed for Marsh Harbor. This is where everyone gets their provisions while cruising in the Abacos. This is the "Big City" and happens to be the capital. We arrived and were told to anchor out for about 10 minutes because the dock hand/master was out. So we came in after we were called (about 15 minutes) and after I rinsed down the boat and tried to connect to the Internet, we left for the stores.

It was really just one auto parts store after another. Some were auto/marine stores. Some were auto/hardware stores, but nonetheless, there were a lot of auto parts stores. So we hit them all looking for the parts and tools that I need to repair the minor problems on the boat and Dinghy.

We found an unusual attraction for this part of the world: a traffic light. It is only a 3-way intersection, but apparently they needed a stop light. We also heard sirens for the first time (including the Coast Guard). This is the big city here, but it is terribly small. There seems to be more hustle and bustle, though, and you see sailors (cruisers) up and down the streets with bags in their hands or collapsible carts in tow with all the "provisions" that they need.

This is a true mariner's town where people seem to keep coming back and looking up their old friends. We ran into our friends from the True Blue this morning as they were here to pick up the boat's owner. I also radioed our friends from Hark the Sound. Babi had to fly home, but David is still here. We plan on having a drink with him later. We have also met numerous people from North and South Carolina. I am starting think that THEY are seasonal, and here is where everyone lives.

We will rest here for a while, while I make boat repairs, and do some cleaning/maintenance. We had dinner and lunch at the Conch Inn Marina; nothing to really report. Just OK.

Guana Cay and Check out my Nippers

We are alive and well. I know it has been a while since we have updated the blog, but WiFi has been scarce, and time has been precious. I will do today's blog, and hopefully go back and fill in the last few days. Maybe we can even get some pictures up here.

We came to Guana Cay for one thing: Nippers Bar - http://www.nippersbar.com/. They have a wild pig roast every Sunday. I am not sure that the pig is wild but the bar is! We were supposed to meet our new friends from Green Turtle Cay, but they did not show up. Amazingly enough, we made more friends here. We are tied up next to a sport fisher, True Blue from Daniels Island. The captain is Bam Bam, and the first mate is Coon. Coons is still a little angry because he lost 2 leg wrestling matches to BJ the other night here at Nippers.

We also met a couple from Minnisoooota. They were a lot of fun, especially the northern accents here in the Bahamas. I also saw a friend of mine as we came in for the pig roast yesterday, David Spaulding. He is keeping his sail boat, Nina at Treasure Cay and flying down as much as possible for the winter. I have known David ever since I moved to Charleston, as we worked together.

We were so busy at Nippers yesterday, we missed the roasted pig! We ended up at a dock party on the True Blue. They brought out the burgers, our other neighbors from NJ brought the vegetables, and we provided the only thing left in the freezer, Oven Fries. Before you knew it there were about 20 people down at the dock, which is more than most bars have this time of year. The food was great, thanks to Abe (Coon), he can be seen below manning the grill. We left there around 1:00AM and crashed hard. Today has been a pretty low key day, we even missed our dive appointment, but I was too tired.

Tomorrow, we will head out.

GTC - BJ's Check Out Dives

It was a little overcast this morning and we were both pretty tired, but BJ was determined to get certified so we went off to the boat. We did her 3rd and 4th dives. We had another student and the dives were on the north side of the island. These dives were around 50 feet and the fish were amazing!!! We went down to the “pet” groupers. These are about 40lb fish that don’t mind being pet. Brendal even had one in a full fledged hug. It was amazing to see how friendly they were. We went on to some great dives. We went through some caverns; saw a lion fish, a coral banded shrimp, tons of angel fish, sea anemones, a drum fish, a bunch of tarpon, and lots of different kind of corals. BJ got her first kiss under water. It was great, but I was a little nervous about all the grouper that were checking us out. But then again, she has always been an exhibitionist!!

From experience, I can tell you that these are some great waters. I saw more types of sea life in just 2 days than I saw in over 200 dives in Bermuda. I can’t wait to do more diving here. I took a bunch of pictures under water, but we will have to have them developed to post them, so when that happens, we will update this date.
Again, we just ate at the bar with our favorite bartender, Renee. She is not real nice, but she really is nice.

As you can tell, the entries are getting shorter. There is so much to do and see, it is hard to get time to reflect everything (and don’t forget about that work thing), but we will try. Also, sometimes we go days without internet connections, but rest assured we will keep it going.

The Food
The Bluff House
What can I say….the Mahi Mahi!!!! Grilled and blackened.

GTC - BJ's 1st 2 Dives

We met up with Brendal at 8:30AM for some last minute instruction and gear check out. We went to the south side of the island to a reef that was only about 30 feet. BJ did great!! We were greeted by the local 3 foot barracuda. Her mask did not fit her properly and that aided in her advanced ability to clear her mask. The second dive, she changed her mask out and had a much better dive. Since she is basically the only student, these became great dives. She would have to do her checkout stuff for about 5-10 minutes, and then we would just explore the reefs. We saw quite a few fish including 2 stingrays, 3-4 lobsters, and a plethora of other reef fish. The visibility was about 60 feet, with the water at about 78 degrees. BJ also experienced her first Goombay Smashes that Brendal brings with him. We left the dive center and went and saw some of Brendal’s friends, who are tourists staying in a local house. They extended us great hospitably by offering us some freshly cooked lobster, potatoes, and these great biscuits. After that, we went to sundowners. BJ was done with this day by 9:00PM, so we had Brendal take us back to the dink and went to bed early.

The Food
Not enough!!

GTC - Goodbye to new friends

We went snorkeling with John and Tina. This was BJ’s first time, and had a blast. The first sight was a little choppy, but then we went to the lee side of the island and the water was much calmer. We saw some barracuda, starfish, jelly fish, and a bunch of other fish. The main goal was to get her used to snorkeling, I think it worked.
We grabbed lunch at the only place that was open on Sunday in the settlement of New Plymouth. We went to McIntyre’s. It was terrible.
BJ was tired, but continued with her classroom work for the dive class. If she keeps this pace up, she will be certified soon. After her classes, we just met up at the Bluff House for drinks and dinner and said our goodbyes to John and Tina. John finally showed his sense of humor, and he is actually funnier than most Brits!

The Food
The Bluff House
The Mahi Mahi at the bar is the best. The grouper is also good, but the mahi is excellent!

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.