Christmas in Little Exuma

Since we were supposed to be already in Georgetown with our boat, my family decided Christmas in the Bahamas sounded great. So they booked a house on Little Exuma, booked their flights on Bahamas Air and were excited to spend December in the Bahamas! Unfortunately, we didn't make it on the boat, so last week we scrambled around and found flights and pet care for our babies and made the arrangements to join them over there. Of course, the day we left on an airplane, the weather was perfect for a crossing....but we try not to dwell on that....

The vacation was great! My parents were delayed on Bahamas Air, which was frustrating to them, but Brad and I were able to fly directly from Miami to Georgetown, pick up the rental car, get groceries, and scout out the house before we went back to pick them up. Unbeknownst to us, however, they had not made their flight from Nassau to Georgetown. We waited at the airport for four hours, waiting for the last flight in, in hopes they would be on it. We made friends with the airport workers who invited us to sit out front with them and enjoy beer and local food while they waited for the last flight as well - gotta love the Bahamas! When they weren't on the last flight, the locals we had befriended were able to track them down and let us know they would be on the morning flight. They even gave us their direct number to call in the morning and confirm my parents had boarded before driving all the way back to the airport again.

The next morning, after a call to our new friend, we headed to the airport to pick up my very tired parents, who were in surprisingly good spirits after their ordeal. Once we got in the car and started heading towards the house and they were able to see the surreal turquoise waters, they were in heaven!

The house was great and the weather was perfect. We stayed on Little Exuma in The Orange House on the Tropic of Cancer beach, purported to be one of the most beautiful beaches in the Bahamas, and swam, snorkeled and kayaked our days away. We were able to take them over, via water taxi, to Chat and Chill, a bar on the barrier island across from Great Exuma. They had a great time, except for when we accidentally sent them across a channel to snorkel and my mom almost got run over by a boat. Woops! We also toured around Little Exuma, as it is too far to reach as a cruiser unless you rent a car. We bought bread at a local bakery, shopped in some of the small stores and drove around searching out other perfect beaches or snorkel spots. We showed them the salt fields and they were able to climb up a little hill and look out at the beautiful water from an unobstructed view.

My sister and her boyfriend, David, were able to join us on Christmas Eve, and we spent Christmas day together on the beach. We swam the mile out to Turtle Rock and snorkeled around in hopes of finding some good coral. We were disappointed however and on the way back, I was exhausted and wishing I hadn't been so adventurous! When we got all the way back to the beach, Brad realized he had dropped our camera somewhere along the way. So.....back out we went. We snorkeled all the way back out to Turtle Rock and back again, where Brad promptly found the camera, sitting in 4 feet of water right off the beach where he had dropped it when we stood up the first time we came in. HA! At least we got our exercise for the day and were able to enjoy our delicious Christmas dinner.

We packed up our bags and left the house Friday morning and headed back into Georgetown to check in to a hotel in "downtown" Georgetown. The hotel was almost completely empty besides our family and the owners (who were in the process of fixing the place up) were delighted to have us! We inadvertently stumbled upon Junkanoo festivities that night, which we were excited to experience. Although they were not doing their typical parade celebration, there was a small gathering of locals drummers and some tourists who marched a few blocks down to the park across from our hotel. We watched them for a bit, danced along to the beat, had a few beers, then decided to turn in for the night. We all went to our separate rooms when we realized that the drums sounded louder, and were getting closer. We stepped outside and saw that the party had moved from the park to the little outside bar at our hotel.....and showed no signs of stopping. We all stood outside and watching for awhile before heading back to our rooms to try and get some sleep. The party wound down around 11 pm and we were all happy to hear the drums finally end their repetitive chorus.

My parents had to leave Saturday afternoon, so following breakfast together, Brad took them to the airport while Whitney, David and I took the water taxi over to Chat and Chill on Stocking Island. They were able to explore the island a bit and feed the stingrays. Brad, who joined us later, and I played volleyball with the cruisers and were able to catch up with a few old friend there on the beach. It made the desire to be back there on our boat even stronger!

The four of us had a nice dinner at Exuma Yacht Club and following breakfast the next morning, headed out on our flight back to Miami. My parents were delayed again on Bahamas Air (in case you aren't catching on....don't fly Bahamas Air!!) My dad insisted my sister switch off Bahamas Air and join us on our American direct flight to Miami. We rented a car and drove them up to Lauderdale so they could make their connecting flight to Charlotte and we could pick up our dog from our friend who watched him over the holiday.

We are finally safely back from the Bahamas and back on the boat, busily getting her ready for our big trip across the Gulf Stream. No window in sight yet, but we are determined not to miss the next one!

Marathon or Bust!

We took one day to rest and recover in Marco Island and wait for some wind to hopefully appear in the forecast and then we headed out early Monday morning to head farther South down the coast. We started out with decent wind and had the sails up early and were happy with our speed. The weather was already much warmer than it had been the day before, and although we were still bundled up, we were at least warm. Unfortunately, the winds didn't hold up and before long we were going too slowly and had to turn on the motor. It is such a downer to us to have to motor because it costs money, but more importantly, it completely ruins the sacred peace and quiet of the sailing life. But, with the motor and sails up, we finally made it to Little Shark River just in time for sundown.

We planned to head out before sunset Tuesday morning, but when we went to pull our anchor, we realized we were stuck. We tried backing it out and going forward to rip it out, but no luck. Finally, I was able to zoom in on the GPS and locate the exact spot we dropped the anchor and I powered the boat over towards that spot. With a lot of power behind it, we were finally able to rip her free. Still not sure what she was stuck on, but at least we got her free!

The rest of our trip was uneventful. We motored 6 of the 8 hours of the day, as the wind was light and variable. We were able to use the autopilot for most of the trip, until we got closer to the keys and had to dodge all the crabpots that were out. It is like a minefield out there this time of year!

The weather was beautiful and we finally felt like we were in Florida when we shed all our layers for shorts and t-shirts. Even Koa and Moo enjoyed the sunny sail!

We made it through the seven mile bridge with two hours of sunlight to spare. We grabbed a mooring at Marathon City Marina and made plans to meet our neighbors at the local watering hole for drinks. We love it here and will leave the boat here while we fly to the Bahamas to meet the family for Christmas.

Shakedown for What?!

SO, it's been many miles since I have been able to blog, so let's get you caught up!

We finally got our outboard back, after waiting a whole week for our fuel pump to come in. Casey brought it back to us, we fired it up and Brad cruised around a bit to make sure it worked. Then we immediately loaded it up onto the boat, along with the dinghy and lashed everything down in preparation of our sail the following day. After waiting for way too long, we were finally ready to head out!

Most people go out for a few shakedown cruises before heading out on their first long passage - meaning small little sails to make sure all the systems are working properly and nothing else needs repairing. We couldn't be bothered by such things, of course, so we were up before the sun on a cloudy, cold Friday morning. We had everything ready to go and were ready to throw off the docklines for good, when we realized that our GPS had mysteriously stopped working. So, we had to pull up the helm floorboard panel and soder some wires before we were ready to go - for real this time.

The sun had just come up when we finally pulled out of the slip and said goodbye to St Pete. We headed out into the Tampa Bay and pointed the boat South towards the Keys. Little did we know that that one hour of sunshine would be the only sun we would see for a full 24 hours.

The wind was light on our stern as we headed out into the Gulf and after sailing somewhat slowly for a few miles, we decided to be brave and throw out our spinnaker. The spinnaker is a large, kite-like sail that you only use (in the case of our asymmetrical sail) when the wind is slightly behind the beam. It is usually bright and colorful and ours was no exception. Having never even pulled it out of the bag, I wasn't even sure what the color scheme was - I was not to be disappointed. This sail is one of the brightest, most colorful things I have ever seen - and not in a good way. But, it did the trick and for a few hours we were making great speed with the spinnaker.

A little bit before sundown, we pulled the spinnaker in and just sailed with the mainsail as there wasn't enough wind to sail with the jib. We did get a small peak of sun at sunset, but only enough to let us know if was still up there. By this point, having not seen the sun, we were already chilled to the bone, and once the sun set it only got worse.

You would think having sailed for so many years that by this time we would have learned to listen to our advice. As the sun was setting, we debated putting a reef in, just in case the wind piped up overnight. But, as usual, we didn't listen to ourselves and we carried on with full sails a-blazing. And sure enough, in the middle of the night, the wind and waves picked up and we were flying! It was good wind though and we were able to control her and make great time.

During our 4 am shift change, I came upstairs at exactly the right time - the jib picked that second to magically unroll itself and start flapping around uncontrollably in the wind. We immediately winched it in so that it wasn't flying around, but with the added sail out, we were now to the point where the boat was getting harder to control. We tried to roll her back up, but of course, that was impossible. So, our only option was to take it down. Brad hooked himself onto the jacklines and crawled up to the bow, where I could barely see him. While bouncing up and down on the waves, we managed to wrestle the jib down and somehow drag it back to the cockpit. We also decided at this point, we had had enough of the crazy sailing and we put a reef in the mainsail.

The next few hours were a bit more comfortable and when the sun came up we were in sight of Marco Island. The wind was perfect for heading farther down south, but we were both freezing cold and exhausted and decided to head into Marco for some R & R.

Oh, and most importantly, the autopilot worked!!! We didn't try it in the heavier winds, we opted to hand steer, but at least for the majority of the trip, it was great being able to just monitor the sailing instead of hand steering through it all!!

10 Feet Under

Well, as usual for us (and most sailors I have ever spoken to), we have had a few setbacks and have had to push back our departure date multiple times. I don't know why we even bother to set one. I've now adopted the mentality that we leave when we are ready. No planning allowed. It does make things a bit more stressful however since it seems we may not meet our Georgetown for Christmas destination. As depressing as it is, I am trying to accept this and am looking into flying us over there for Christmas with the fam. This will be more cost prohibitive and will put us farther behind in our trip to the Virgin Islands, but it is better we play it safe.

With two weeks left before their arrival in Georgetown, we still have time to make it there. The weather however, has been a bit of a problem. Even if we were to leave St Pete today and sail down to Marathon and wait to cross the Gulf Stream, the winds have been North for the last two weeks and are predicted to stay that way for at least another week. We will not cross the Stream in any winds with a northerly component. So, even though we are bummed we haven't left St Pete yet, it's either we wait here, or we wait there.

This, I must keep reminding myself, is part of the fun of sailing - the unpredictability and the free go with the flow attitude. Although, for those that know me, you know patience is not one of my stronger virtues and that I love a good plan! So, these past few weeks have been particularly grueling for me. Brad has been a huge help and has been keeping my spirits up and working hard to get us ready to go as soon as possible.

So, enough of the pity party, let me fill you in on all the upgrades that have set up back so far!

I finally finished provisioning for our trip - meaning stocked up on groceries and toiletries that are more expensive over there. I bought way too many things and was a bit daunted when I brought everything home and realized I now had to find a place to stow everything. But, with some creativity and a couple of storage bins, everything now has a place and is safely stowed away. We have claimed the Vberth as our garage for storage, but a few weeks into the trip, we will have used most of the stores and the boat will be feeling a bit less claustrophobic.

Brad has had the hardest part of the last few days - we had decided to upgrade some of our electronics and they have been a bit more challenging to install than we originally thought. He has done a great job though and now we have a new VHF radio with a built-in AIS and, after a few days of research, he has figured out how to wire our new instruments so that they are compatible with some of our older ones as well. Today he will install them and I cannot wait! They are so beautiful!! We were finally able to read our depth under the keel (something we couldn't do on our old control head since it was so sun damaged) - 10 feet under has never looked so good!

Brad has also been putting in a lot of time on our outboard. Unfortunately, after a few days of trying everything he knew how to do, we had to call in the experts. Enter Casey - a wonderful engine repair guy who spent a few years down in the Caribbean. He understood our timeline and desire to leave ASAP and has fit us in to his non-existent spare time and hopes to return our outboard to us today! We have our fingers crossed!

And, last but not least, we have felt a bit lighter these last few days since we donated our car to Make a Wish foundation. We have gone from having a pocketful of keys on our key chain to only one measly boat key. And it feels great!

So, things are coming together, the boat is almost ready to go, we have purged ourselves of all of our land items and the pets are legal - now we just wait for wind!

Final Projects

With the Christmas in Georgetown plans quickly sneaking up on us, we had a sail repair guy come and look at our new, used sail yesterday. We had high hopes that he would be able to fix our sail to make it better fit our boat and have it returned to us by Friday so that we might set sail this weekend. He showed up right on time and he and Brad got to work inspecting the sail. They raised it, they reefed it, they raised it again. They tugged on the topping lift, then released it, then pulled the clew tight to the boom and released it and then repeated. There was a lot of hemming and hawing and raising and lowering. But, an hour later, much to our sheer delight, he declared that we had a purchased a great sail and he didn't think we needed any repair work done to it.
When I came out to inspect his work, the sail was a perfect shape. He and Brad had pulled it tight to hug the shape of our boom and it looked great! And, after all of that, he didn't charge us a thing! He was such a fantastically, helpful guy!


Next on the list - tackling the head sail. Our rolling furling (which is the system that rolls the sail up around the forestay) had become corroded and was no longer working. This is something we had been having trouble with the last year we went sailing - and we are only just now getting around to it. After a few hours work, and again, hauling the sail up and down the forestay three times, Brad finally got it working. A lot of elbow grease, a can of dry lube and some new lines and she works good as new!!


Now, this boat is actually looking like it could possibly go sailing! As the day came to a close, it hit us that we are almost ready to head out and this time next week we should be staging to head over to the Bahamas! (Soon after, the panic set in and I began making new lists for all the last minute things we would need to get done!) Looks like all our hard work is about to pay off!!