Allen's Pensacola

1.24.13 This morning we woke up, excited to get to shore for the first time in 4 days. We thought we would have the whole day to dinghy around and explore the island. But a quick check of the wind changed our plans. We needed to head to Spanish Cay today before the wind changed. We opted to dinghy in to shore anyway and spend at least a few hours with our feet on dry land. We took Koa (who was even more excited than us to be on land!) and dinghied in to Allens Pensacola. We found lots of sand dollars and lots of already harevested conch shells. Koa played fetch for a little while and then we all loaded back in the dinghy to go to a small neighboring island. We got very close to the next island and the beach looked pristine when suddenly, the outboard hit bottom. Sean offered to get out and pull us in the rest of the way. When we got to shore, we found most of the same on this island as on Allens Pensacola - lots of sand dollars. But we did find a few medium sized conch. We decided to take three of them back to the boat and see if we could figure out how to remove them and cook them. We headed back to the mothership around noon, put the conch in a bucket of water and started sailing to Spanish Cay. It was an easy jib sail, going 4 knots with the wind on our stern. We trolled, but came up empty handed. We anchored around 3 pm and started working on the conch. Sean took the first crack at it, using a flathead screwdriver and a hammer to bang a hole in the shell and then a knife to cut the muscle attaching it to the shell. It was harder than the book made it seem, but finally we got all three out. The next step was even harder as we then had to peel the skin on the animal to get to the meat. Only problem - the skin didn't want to peel. After about an hour and a very frustrated Sean, we finally had our conch meat. Since the conch weren't really large, we decided to make some fritters. We fried them up and had them as an appetizer to our meal. They were delicious! Better than most in restaurants for sure! Although we had big plans to finish off the snapper for dinner, we all fell asleep by 6:30. I guess the sun really takes it out of you! We will head in to the Spanish Cay marina tomorrow for a night and also to check in to customs.

Great first Bahamian Day!

1.23.13 I finally drug myself out of bed this morning at 0900 and Sean informed me that all the other boats that had been in our anchorage had left. I always get a funny feeling in my stomach when that happens, like we are either getting ready to get caught in some bad wind coming from a bad direction or we are missing some great sailing wind. In this case, it was the latter. I checked the wind and then the charts and saw that this wind was perfect for where we wanted to go. I quickly woke Brad and explained the plan and we were on our way within 30 minutes. We motored the first hour directly into the wind and we weren't sure that we had made the best decision, but when we finally turned the corner and hoisted the sails, I don't think the conditions could have been more ideal! We were making 6 to 7 knots all day and the waves were small so the sailing was comfortable. We were no sooner twenty minutes into our sail that Sean caught a fish! A very large, unexpected Snappper had caught on one of our lines. Sean reeled him in and Brad netted him - he was 25 inches and looked delicious! Our first Bahamian fish!

The rest of the day was uneventful, just wonderful sailing and good company. We covered 40 miles in 8 hours. We would have been there sooner but for a minor incident with the jib. We were right where we wanted to anchor and when we tried to roll the jib in, it wouldn't come! We had to turn away from the wind and go the wrong way for almost two miles before Brad finally got frustrated and just took the whole thing down. We motored back to our anchorage, got the hook down and Brad and Sean fixed the sail issue. We had delicious Snapper for dinner and cannot wait to get the dinghy in the water and go in to explore Allens Pensacola tomorrow!

Crossing the Stream

1.22.13 We left West Palm around 0900 yesterday morning, filled our diesel and water tanks and headed out through the cut. The ocean was relatively polite with only small waves, although it was relatively choppy. We opted to head out three miles right away to check out the Gulf Stream and see if it was passable. We had discussed our options on Sunday and decided that even though there was no wind in the forecast, we would go out to the Stream and if the waves were calm, we would go ahead and cross to the Bahamas. If the Stream was churned up at all and looked questionable from the North winds we had been having, we would head South to Miami. I think we all thought we were heading to Miami that day.... But, the weather cooperated and we started our crossing. The day went well, although as predicted there was no wind so we motored the whole way. The only bad weather we had came right after dark (of course) while I was on watch. Brad and Sean had gone below to get some rest while I took the first shift. Suddenly a downpour hit, sheets and sheets of rain for thirty minutes, being blown in one me from all directions. Brad offered to come out and keep me company but there was no point in both of us being miserable, so I stayed put. Luckily, the rain didn't bring wind so the Stream didn't get too angry, although the waves picked up a bit. We hit the edge of the Bahama Bank around 10 pm, just North of Freeport. We had always planned on going in by Bimini which is much farther south after crossing over from Miami. It wasn't until Sunday that we suddenly decided to just cross from West Palm and head to the Abacos. For those of you who had previously read our blog, you will remember that we didn't enjoy the Abacos very much and had quite a bit of trouble anchoring there. We were, in fact, not planning on ever going to the Abacos again, but with North wind in the forecast for the next week, they were our only hope of crossing. Everything was going great until the wind picked up around 2 am. Brad and I sat in the cockpit while the waves built and the wind got colder. By the time the sun came up, our destination was in sight, but the it seemed that it was going to be quite the motor bash to get there. Sure enough, as soon as we turned towards Grand Cay, we were going nowhere...literally less than 1 knot. After a few minutes of this, we decided we weren't going to make it and turned around, raised the sails and headed to a different island south of us. Once we raised the sails, we were flying! The wind was so strong, the waves were large and we were being pushed at right around 7 knots directly towards our new destination. We made it there in no time at all, got the sails down and the anchor set by 11:00am. We had breakfast, made sure the anchor was holding and then left Sean to anchor watch while Brad and I passed out cold.