Atlalntis

We docked at Atlantis this morning with the help of our friends Ellen and Randy who are heading to San Francisco via the Panama Canal. Nanc leaves tomorrow at 1140 and Bill Hughes arrives sometime tomorrow probably on the flight she is leaving on. We set sail on Thur and the weather looks good to run all the way to Moore Head City. S

Howling wind

The wind has blown at 20 plus since we arrived here. Yesterday it laid down some, and we rode the dingy into Atlantis and walked around and had lunch at Johnnie Rockets. Last evening the wind was gone and we watched another movie on the DVD. This morning the wind was right back up there at 20 plus. This area is feeding air into the fronts moving across the East Coast of the US. the forecast is good for next early next week with the wind backing to the SE by late in the week which will give us a nice push toward D'ville. I have included a picture from last evening. We are both well and loving life, and the beautiful world God has given us to live in. S

Back in Nassau

Well, we had a super week, sailing down the Exumas chain. I listened to Chris Parker this morning and his forecast was for high winds starting late this afternoon and lasting thru the last part of the week with another cold front coming thru next weekend and more wind. I was concerned about having Nanc in Nassau for her flight home and picking up the guys flying down to help me bring Marcnicliz home, so we departed this morning at 0900 and arrived here at 1900 after the last two hours of high winds up to 30 knots and seas of 4 to 5 feet. We both did well and so did the boat. Glad to be on anchor. We had a good time at Warderick Wells, and I will include pictures of the Banana Quits eating from our hand and Nanc walking on the beach at Shroud Cay after a trip thru the mangroves. Pretty special. We anchored at Staniel Key/ Big Majors last evening and ate at Thunder Ball Club last night. Name comes from the James Bond Movie. It sits high on a hill overlooking the surrounding Keys. Very pretty. We were able to average over 7 knots coming back with many spells over 9 knots. I was dragging the dingy behind, and that was amazing. I should have put it on the fore deck with the forecast. Next time. Party chicken for dinner tonight. I will miss the super meals Nanc puts together when it is me and the guys. I have cans of tuna, chicken, and Pringles for Bill Hughes. We will be fine. I plan on improvising next week prior to their arrival and our departure for Deltaville. S

Warderick Wells Exumas

We left Nassau on Monday and motored to Highborne Cay. Really nice place and another Lobster met his demise. We then proceeded to Shroud Cay and wondered thru the mangroves yesterday and this morning. We departed there at 1300 and motored sailed to arrived at Warderick Wells in the Exuma Land and Sea Park at 1530. We are heading for Staniel Cay/ Big Majors by Sat to ride out a strong wind thru next Tue. We will depart on Wed for Nassau if my weatherman Chris Parker is right, and he has been up until now. We start our Honda 2000 each evening to top off the batteries and watch a movie at the same time. Nanc, of course, reads constantly. We conserve water, however a shower each day is a necessity for both of us. I get up each morning at 0700 and listen to Chris Parker and then at 0830 to the Cruiser net on the SSB. It is working beyond my expectations. I am identifying those things that need to be changed before the next adventure, and there are a few. There are usually 6 to 10 other boats at anchor with us, and we talk to a few as we meet on the beach. Marcnicliz is performing well; however I constantly have to spell the name before anyone will try to pronounce it. We visited Allens Cay and saw all the iguanas that the tourists come and feed. There were really a lot of them and some were really big. We stayed off shore in our dinghy! Also, the food is really pricey on the small islands.....a head of lettuce was 10 dollars and a small jar of capers was 8 dollars! We haven't seen a lot of wild life since getting to the islands but today we did see a beautiful white heron and an osprey.

Actually, there isn't much for me to add. Speedy has done an amazing job of preparing the boat and being the captain. We've had lots of good meals....which is my job. Everyone we meet is really nice and so many people have done the trip many times. I have read a lot of books....which really makes me happy. We have really gotten into the habit of watching movies at night....which has been fun as well. Last night the stars in the sky were totally amazing. Because there is no light pollution, there really are a million diamonds in the sky. The adventure is all I hoped it would be. N

Call us Parrot Heads

Love Jimmy Buffett. S

Nassau until Monday

We decided to stay here in the Nassau Harbor Club Marina until Monday morning and then head for the Exumas's Highborne Cay. It is about 30 miles, and we will pass up Norman Cay and the Iguanas. We saw one at the zoo today.We will then sail casually down the chain to Staniel Cay and turn back to Nassau for Nanc's flight on the 1st. We plan on staying two night at Atlantis as a treat for the the guys coming to help me get Marcnicliz home. We have been chilling out and bought some groceries, defrosted the refrig, and ate downtown after the zoo at Cafe Matisse. Super lamb shank followed by a drink with the owner at the bar. We had Ellen and Randy over for dinner last evening and talked until late. Sure is easy to sleep with Marcnicliz rocking around. There are some huge tide fluctuation as you can see. We have spoken to the kids and my brother via Skype several times and feel like we are somewhat in touch. Bought the NY Times yesterday and found everything is still pretty much the same. Will try to make church in the morning. S

Nassau

OK, we made Nassau and had ole friends to dinner. We have spent the last week at Devil's Cay; have been catching lobster and grouper. We ate on the beach for several evening meals by cooking on a camp fire, and took many walks on the beach to collect shells, etc. We took a long hike on Hoffman Cay to a site that over looked the whole area which was really pretty. Another day we hiked to a blue hole which was beautiful. We caught 20 conch one day and made a chowder and fritters. You could only get into the anchorage at high tide, but we stayed there a week and had a super time. I cleaned most of the bottom of the boat off with a brush which is really hard work. Nanc said she was trying to remember how to do CPR when she saw me. We used the dingy to troll for the grouper and snorkeled for the lobster. Was windy the first few days, but the last two were made in heaven. We left this morning on a high tide and motor sailed to here in about 5 hours. The wind was on my nose which was not too conducive for sailing. We will stay here tomorrow and do laundry, put on water and fuel and leave Friday for the Exumas. Will be out of touch again for a week or so. S

We are in Nassau after departing at 0815. We dropped the anchor here at 1400 and will go into a slip tomorrow to do laundry and shop. We have had a super time, and I will expand this later. We are waiting for ole friends who slipped their boat across from us in Deltaville to arrive with a French couple we just met for dinner. S

Chub Key

Off the dock in Bimini at 0600 and dropped the anchor here at Chub Key at 1800. Motor sailed the whole way. Plan on leaving for Devil Hoffman also in the Berrys at 0730, and will spend a week there searching for lobster and grouper. S

Bimini still

The wind generator is fixed and we have stayed in Bimini due to 25 knot winds today. You can see the ocean from the marina, and there have been white caps all day. The wind generator was actually working OK, but the stop switch was malfunctioning. Another boat from Tennessee had a spare and sold it to me, and I am back in the power generating business. I equalized the batteries yesterday and that has helped our energy management tremendously. I scrubbed the teak seats with a special cleaner that Annapolis Yacht Sales South (Ann Hutchings) told me about. It looks brand new again. Our multifunctional display has quit working, so I have no way to see how much water or diesel we have on board; however I keep a pretty good idea of the gas situation by the number of hours I run the engine. One hour equals about one gallon. Could not hear the weather on frequency 4045 SSB this morning; since a different guy is sending out the info from his boat in Orient, NC. I could hear him at0730, but could not get him to respond to me. Evidently many had a problem, since he has developed a procedure for in the morning to skip from one frequency to another until enough folks respond. There are folks all over listening to his broadcasts from Dominican Republic, Cuba, Bahamas, etc. I sent him an e-mail and he returned with a written forecast for tomorrow. We plan on leaving early, and sailing all day for 76 miles to Chub Key. I will fill my water tanks tonight, since this will be the last water for 2 weeks. We had to tell friends we could not pick them up in Nassau due to the weather set backs, and timing. the wind makes things too problematic. Nanc and I rode around the island on their Tram and saw all the sites. Other than the pretty water there is not too much to see. The people are very friendly; however their economy is down the drain. Many places closed. I have been making phone calls to family and friends over Skype (Voice over IP), and it really works fine. We w ill be out of communication range for the next several weeks, I believe. I will send the Findmespot positions, but no word pictures. S

Bimini Sunday

We got up late after listening to music from the local bar last evening. My wind generator has stopped working when I need it most; however we are dockside and on shore power thru tomorrow. The wind is starting to howl. We went to church this morning, and enjoyed the service immensely. Beautiful singing. Those of you who sailed in Tahiti with us will remember, and I remembered all of you this morning. We walked back along the beach and the water is that beautiful deep blue and turquoise. We stopped at a unique house that a fellow spent 15 years building out of local shells and throw away pieces, and it was really pretty. He is a local school teacher and has written two books. I bought both for Nanc and I to read. Guess who is reading them right now. We ate at a local restaurant and Nanc had the cracked conch. I walked back to the teachers house with four American states quarters he did not have and gave them to him. He now only needs three to have all of them. The others are going to check their laundry stash. Well it is time to dig deeper into the wind generator problem and look at the beautiful world God has given us to live in. S