Happy Holidays from Alibi crew!!
I have to relate a story. We received a very useful and wonderful gift a few months ago. Some friends (thank you Al and Martha) went to a boat show and purchased some headsets for us. I have often heard these referred to as "Marriage Savers". Because Darrell thought that we have great communication skills already and our marriage is "safe" after twelve years (as of today), Darrell was hesitant to use them. He finally broke down recently and decided to keep me happy by using them when we were trying to sort out our 2 anchor chains that had become twisted. The communication/
headphones made quick work of getting it all sorted out AND getting the line cut off the main anchor from the crab traps here in Blackwater Sound.
The second time these came in really handy was night before last. We had taken some very good friends on a sunset sail and the pick up and drop off point was a few miles north of where we normally anchor. By the time we reached our desired anchor spot, it was very dark. Since our former method of communication involved hand signals, this was impossible. In fact, there usually was a lot of screaming, yelling, and general grumbling (of course to be heard over the engine of the boat). The first time we backed down after setting the anchor, we drug or skipped. With our delightful gifts, we just went forward, untangled that @$# crab trap line and reset the anchor just like it was broad daylight. It was so easy!!! So a big thank you to Al and Martha and we can't wait to go sailing with ya.
I have had a little more time on my hands so I have been reading the travel guide books about the Bahamas - our next intended sailing destination. We hope to get to see more this time. I am starting to consider what items we need more of in our "ship stores" for a more extended stay. The canned meats came in really handy last te so we may be putting up some more in the near future. I also have to begin the paperwork to get Roxy's vaccinations and immigration status up to date.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
November, REALLY????
There have been few projects completed the past few months as Darrell and Ann have made two emergency trips back to Amarillo, Texas. One was in September for Darrell's Father's funeral and one in late October/early November for Ann's Mom's funeral. Wow, a tough couple of months for the crew of Alibi but we will persevere.
Plans are underway for another visit to TX for Christmas Holidays (this time driving with Roxy too). After that we are thinking about returning to the Bahamas for a few months.
We have completed the project to replace the marine sanitation system of the boat - boy that was sure fun! And we are returning to the lovely job of refinishing the teak trim on the exterior. Not something we wanted to repeat only one year later but it needs attention before we go away. We are also considering putting her in the boat yard and doing some work on the rudder and some new bottom paint sometime just before Christmas.
We want to wish everyone a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!
There have been few projects completed the past few months as Darrell and Ann have made two emergency trips back to Amarillo, Texas. One was in September for Darrell's Father's funeral and one in late October/early November for Ann's Mom's funeral. Wow, a tough couple of months for the crew of Alibi but we will persevere.
Plans are underway for another visit to TX for Christmas Holidays (this time driving with Roxy too). After that we are thinking about returning to the Bahamas for a few months.
We have completed the project to replace the marine sanitation system of the boat - boy that was sure fun! And we are returning to the lovely job of refinishing the teak trim on the exterior. Not something we wanted to repeat only one year later but it needs attention before we go away. We are also considering putting her in the boat yard and doing some work on the rudder and some new bottom paint sometime just before Christmas.
We want to wish everyone a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Latest Project List
Well, we have been doing some projects here in Key Largo. The photos above show the before and after of the latest sewing work. We have recovered all the setee cushions in ultrasuede fabric and we are very pleased with the job. The cushions are softer on your skin! We completely remade new cockpit cushions and covered them with naugasoft material. We have become quite the upholstery duo, if I do say so myself! Darrell even has his FIRST and only pair of left-handed scissors - he is so proud!!
Our other, less fun project, has been working on the sanitation on the boat. We have replaced all the hoses to the holding tank and are ready to order and replace the holding tank (hopefully BEFORE it begins to leak). That has been a shitty job but a pretty important one. We will sure be glad when it is completed.
We want to take another trip but the dive business and hurricane season has been keeping us here in Key Largo. We have gotten to do a few short day sails and take out friends like Al and Ed. Really enjoyed their visit!
As you can see, Roxy has gotten pretty good at balancing on the tubes at the bow of the dinghy. She thinks she is like a hood ornament - you should see the people on the docks point and take pictures of the crazy dog!
Saturday, July 3, 2010
NEWS FLASH!!!!
We got the inverter installation completed and tested last night! I was shaking my fist at the weather gods who caused the lightening strike that killed the other one. This one is a 2000W model and I can run a hair dryer with it - IF Darrell would let me! LOL
We are having our annual Fourth of July party for Island Ventures crew tomorrow night - with a raft up. Watching the fireworks is always fun and getting to visit with friends and their family is GREAT!
Hope all of you have a safe and Happy July 4th!
We got the inverter installation completed and tested last night! I was shaking my fist at the weather gods who caused the lightening strike that killed the other one. This one is a 2000W model and I can run a hair dryer with it - IF Darrell would let me! LOL
We are having our annual Fourth of July party for Island Ventures crew tomorrow night - with a raft up. Watching the fireworks is always fun and getting to visit with friends and their family is GREAT!
Hope all of you have a safe and Happy July 4th!
Saturday, June 19, 2010
June 19, 2010
Well we have been back in the USA for three weeks and dreaming of the "next" trip. Things at the dive business have been booming so not much time for the projects on our list. We have repaired the hot water heater (case was rusted out) and we thought leaking but maybe not. We have replaced hoses in the back (behind the water heater) and a thru hull for the bilge pump that had broken. We have the new inverter/charger in the boat but the hook-up is not complete. Running the electrical wiring proved to be more than I expected - one out, one in - NOT! Different plugs going thru existing holes where smaller connectors had been previously proved to be my nemesis.
If you were to walk on Alibi right now, you would swear that a bomb had gone off below decks. With all these projects going on, we have everything removed from it's normal spot. And we keep having to move things to do every little task - it is CRAZY!! Oh, I almost forgot we have cut a hole and have a door to go in the aft cabin above the cabinets. This new space we created is for storing fishing poles and probably long rolls of fabric when we are aboard full time. We stole the idea from another Island Packet that we looked at when we were shopping. Darrell is about ready to put up some spice racks for me on the back wall of the galley - Dick and Nelda, you know that big empty space next to the EPIRB.
We still have to trouble shoot the wind generator - which quit functioning during our trip home (although not much wind here right now). We have replaced the charge controller for the solar panels and getting some help with battery charging from them. And we have been running the engine for a little while each day to charge but yesterday morning I noticed the engine temp had crept up to almost 200 degrees - yikes! So last night after a long day at the dive shop, we started going through the possible causes and finally located the problem - the impeller was shot. We have learned so much in our years in the keys that it took less than an hour to have the engine purring like a kitten again. You bet, we're patting ourselves on the backs!!
Like I said, we are dreaming of the next trip which could be sometime later this summer after the dive business slows down a little bit. We did get provisions for the next trip - we bought our "liquor" stores from the landlords (restaurant/bar owners). We also got to enjoy a CD sent to us from some dive friends who took a similar trip the the Bahamas last winter - the parallels between us is uncanny! But I can't write like Martha can - we were crying and rolling in the floor laughing at some of her stories. Perhaps we will travel together someday.
Well, divers are showing up to give me money so I guess I'll have to go take it - after all, more cruising $$.
Love and Hugs,
Darrell, Ann, & Roxy
Well we have been back in the USA for three weeks and dreaming of the "next" trip. Things at the dive business have been booming so not much time for the projects on our list. We have repaired the hot water heater (case was rusted out) and we thought leaking but maybe not. We have replaced hoses in the back (behind the water heater) and a thru hull for the bilge pump that had broken. We have the new inverter/charger in the boat but the hook-up is not complete. Running the electrical wiring proved to be more than I expected - one out, one in - NOT! Different plugs going thru existing holes where smaller connectors had been previously proved to be my nemesis.
If you were to walk on Alibi right now, you would swear that a bomb had gone off below decks. With all these projects going on, we have everything removed from it's normal spot. And we keep having to move things to do every little task - it is CRAZY!! Oh, I almost forgot we have cut a hole and have a door to go in the aft cabin above the cabinets. This new space we created is for storing fishing poles and probably long rolls of fabric when we are aboard full time. We stole the idea from another Island Packet that we looked at when we were shopping. Darrell is about ready to put up some spice racks for me on the back wall of the galley - Dick and Nelda, you know that big empty space next to the EPIRB.
We still have to trouble shoot the wind generator - which quit functioning during our trip home (although not much wind here right now). We have replaced the charge controller for the solar panels and getting some help with battery charging from them. And we have been running the engine for a little while each day to charge but yesterday morning I noticed the engine temp had crept up to almost 200 degrees - yikes! So last night after a long day at the dive shop, we started going through the possible causes and finally located the problem - the impeller was shot. We have learned so much in our years in the keys that it took less than an hour to have the engine purring like a kitten again. You bet, we're patting ourselves on the backs!!
Like I said, we are dreaming of the next trip which could be sometime later this summer after the dive business slows down a little bit. We did get provisions for the next trip - we bought our "liquor" stores from the landlords (restaurant/bar owners). We also got to enjoy a CD sent to us from some dive friends who took a similar trip the the Bahamas last winter - the parallels between us is uncanny! But I can't write like Martha can - we were crying and rolling in the floor laughing at some of her stories. Perhaps we will travel together someday.
Well, divers are showing up to give me money so I guess I'll have to go take it - after all, more cruising $$.
Love and Hugs,
Darrell, Ann, & Roxy
Friday, June 4, 2010
Back in the USA
June 4, 2010
Well, sorry we are so slow in posting again but it was "back to work" almost immediately when we got to the dock! Things went fine while we were gone - as good in fact, BETTER than while we are here!!! Thanks so much Island Ventures crew!!!!!
Update:
May 24, 2010 - we left Chub Cay in a little bit of a rush. We had some provisioning to do on the island (more Rum) after the store opened at 11 AM. Well after being here for a while, we knew better than to be standing at the door to the store when they opened so we waited until 11:30 or 12 to go shopping. After getting our supplies, we left and headed out to the "big boat" in the dinghy. After arriving, we noticed a different kind of motion than we have previously encountered. The wind had changed and so had the tide - we were bouncing on the bottom (luckily sandy) at low tide. After assessing the situation, we decided to "kedge" out to deeper water and when we were there.....decided to leave and go fishing. After following a weed line that would make my "favorite fishing buddy" Jason absolutely cry, we just kept going towards Northwest Light or in the direction of New Providence (the island the Nassau is on) . On the radio after quite a while, we hear "Alibi, Alibi, -- Cygnus". This is the siter ship to ours that we met a few days before! Anyway, we anchored together that night (a storm broke their anchor and they drifted about a mile) and traveled together across the Gulf Stream back to the good old USA.
We spent about 2 days at Chub Cay doing laundry and getting provisions, etc. The laundry story only gets better from my previous post. Mr. Perry Scott seems to be the only person at the marina who can work on the laundry machines and he is VERY hard to find!! He came and fixed the washing machine after we had already switched our clothes to the one that worked but we were not bright enough to check the integrity of the dryer BEFORE he left!! Lol....we dryed the clothes the old fashioned way with clothes pins and lines on the boat.
We crossed the Bahamas Banks to Riding Rock on Thursday, May 27 - in preparation to cross the Gulf Stream back to Florida on Friday (our first good weather window). We left Riding Rock (just a couple of islands with NOTHING there) in the wee hours of Friday May 28th to motor the entire way across (no wind) to Angelfish Creek near Ocean Reef. We arrived at Pumpkin Key just in time to get an anchor down before it was too dark to see. Welllllll, on the way across I got frustrated with fishing with a reel that wouldn't reel in the line so I quit. Darrell said "the Cubans do it with that yo-yo so why can't I". So he did - the first fish - a 48 inch dolphin (Mahi-mahi) was caught on an empty beer can. The second one was caught on a water bottle when I told him to reel in the line because we were about to enter Angelfish - a Bonita. Guess who cleaned the fish by flashlight power after were at anchor near Pumpkin Key. I thought the rule was in our family that you clean what you catch?!?!?!?! Anyway we are going to enjoy that fresh Mahi!!
We made it to our dock about 10:30 AM the following day and have been "running" ever since. Business has been good - in fact the guys did a GREAT job minding things for us! We would Love to get packed up and leave again but we'll see..........
Anyway, a recap:
718 nautical miles traveled
67 gallons diesel burned
16 gallons gasoline used in the dinghy
200 approximate gallons of water used
Rum 13 L
Beer 5 cases
Why did it take more water, rum, and beer than diesel and gasoline to make that trip? Provisioning will be a lot different next time!! LOL We actually learned so many things but many of the lessons learned are of such a personal nature that they don't make for good tales. We had a great time, we are ready to go again, and the only thing we would change about the trip is less up wind sailing and more downwind sailing. I will post a lot of our pictures later when I get a chance to get them ready to post.
Love and hugs!
Darrell, Ann, and Roxy
Well, sorry we are so slow in posting again but it was "back to work" almost immediately when we got to the dock! Things went fine while we were gone - as good in fact, BETTER than while we are here!!! Thanks so much Island Ventures crew!!!!!
Update:
May 24, 2010 - we left Chub Cay in a little bit of a rush. We had some provisioning to do on the island (more Rum) after the store opened at 11 AM. Well after being here for a while, we knew better than to be standing at the door to the store when they opened so we waited until 11:30 or 12 to go shopping. After getting our supplies, we left and headed out to the "big boat" in the dinghy. After arriving, we noticed a different kind of motion than we have previously encountered. The wind had changed and so had the tide - we were bouncing on the bottom (luckily sandy) at low tide. After assessing the situation, we decided to "kedge" out to deeper water and when we were there.....decided to leave and go fishing. After following a weed line that would make my "favorite fishing buddy" Jason absolutely cry, we just kept going towards Northwest Light or in the direction of New Providence (the island the Nassau is on) . On the radio after quite a while, we hear "Alibi, Alibi, -- Cygnus". This is the siter ship to ours that we met a few days before! Anyway, we anchored together that night (a storm broke their anchor and they drifted about a mile) and traveled together across the Gulf Stream back to the good old USA.
We spent about 2 days at Chub Cay doing laundry and getting provisions, etc. The laundry story only gets better from my previous post. Mr. Perry Scott seems to be the only person at the marina who can work on the laundry machines and he is VERY hard to find!! He came and fixed the washing machine after we had already switched our clothes to the one that worked but we were not bright enough to check the integrity of the dryer BEFORE he left!! Lol....we dryed the clothes the old fashioned way with clothes pins and lines on the boat.
We crossed the Bahamas Banks to Riding Rock on Thursday, May 27 - in preparation to cross the Gulf Stream back to Florida on Friday (our first good weather window). We left Riding Rock (just a couple of islands with NOTHING there) in the wee hours of Friday May 28th to motor the entire way across (no wind) to Angelfish Creek near Ocean Reef. We arrived at Pumpkin Key just in time to get an anchor down before it was too dark to see. Welllllll, on the way across I got frustrated with fishing with a reel that wouldn't reel in the line so I quit. Darrell said "the Cubans do it with that yo-yo so why can't I". So he did - the first fish - a 48 inch dolphin (Mahi-mahi) was caught on an empty beer can. The second one was caught on a water bottle when I told him to reel in the line because we were about to enter Angelfish - a Bonita. Guess who cleaned the fish by flashlight power after were at anchor near Pumpkin Key. I thought the rule was in our family that you clean what you catch?!?!?!?! Anyway we are going to enjoy that fresh Mahi!!
We made it to our dock about 10:30 AM the following day and have been "running" ever since. Business has been good - in fact the guys did a GREAT job minding things for us! We would Love to get packed up and leave again but we'll see..........
Anyway, a recap:
718 nautical miles traveled
67 gallons diesel burned
16 gallons gasoline used in the dinghy
200 approximate gallons of water used
Rum 13 L
Beer 5 cases
Why did it take more water, rum, and beer than diesel and gasoline to make that trip? Provisioning will be a lot different next time!! LOL We actually learned so many things but many of the lessons learned are of such a personal nature that they don't make for good tales. We had a great time, we are ready to go again, and the only thing we would change about the trip is less up wind sailing and more downwind sailing. I will post a lot of our pictures later when I get a chance to get them ready to post.
Love and hugs!
Darrell, Ann, and Roxy
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
A quick note to update all. We sailed for the past few days to Chub Cay where we are waiting for a weather window to return to the USA. We decided on Friday that it was not worth the extra cost to fly Ann home while Darrell just sits waiting for her to come back to sail home. Turns out that was a bad choice because Mother Nature has other ideas. Anyway the plan was for me to do laundry here at the marina and access internet. I am being eaten up by "no seeums" and mosquitos and I forgot the laundry soap! So I am frantically typing so I can trudge with all my stuff back about 100 yards to the dinghy to go back and do laundry by hand or not at all. I also don't have proper change for the machines! LOL
The great news is that the last three or four days of sailing are more like what we signed on for not like the trip over and down where we were constantly going into the wind. We hope for winds behind us to cross the Gulf Stream this time.....keep fingers crossed. Either that or we may have to motor the entire way. The best thing is fuel - we put 11 gallons of diesel in ALIBI yesterday and that was for the past 10 days - we used more water than we did diesel!!!
Gotta go - I'm being carried away!
XOXOXO
The great news is that the last three or four days of sailing are more like what we signed on for not like the trip over and down where we were constantly going into the wind. We hope for winds behind us to cross the Gulf Stream this time.....keep fingers crossed. Either that or we may have to motor the entire way. The best thing is fuel - we put 11 gallons of diesel in ALIBI yesterday and that was for the past 10 days - we used more water than we did diesel!!!
Gotta go - I'm being carried away!
XOXOXO
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Central Bahamas
May 19, 2010
We arrived at Staniel Cay in the central Bahamas two days ago. The sail on Monday was the best one we have had so far - it was a close reach to a beam reach and much calmer than heading straight into it. For those who don’t know points of sail - you can’t sail directly INTO the wind and the more directly you go into it the rougher the ride.. We are at the destination where Ann can get a flight to Ft. Lauderdale next week and Darrell has everything he needs while she is gone. The trip is going great except we feel like we have passed up so many places that we would like to do more exploring but we had to get to here for our “Agenda”. We will definitely be back!
We had been seeing something called sand bores on the charts and didn’t know exactly what they were. Darrell equated them with “boars” and has had some bad dreams about sand boars getting Roxy. We finally saw an explanation on a chart - a sand bore is a living, fluid, moving sand bar and in the Bahamas that can be significant. There is a lot of water that moves across the shallow “banks” of the Bahamas with each tide change. The only bores we had to worry about are the BOAR (note singular) that lives on Big Major Cay. We took Roxy to shore yesterday afternoon to do her duty and the pigs left their nap spots under some trees to come and greet us. These are good sized pigs, mind you - in fact we dreamed of all of the cuts of meat we could have if we butchered one of them (LOL). The male pig made advances towards Roxy in an aggressive nature - Darrell had to “convince” him to get back to his nap time by popping him a time or two with the dog leash - the only bad thing was that the first “pop” was a direct hit to his shin from the metal latch. Roxy sure was curious and wanted to follow those big fellers.
We spent the morning yesterday doing some sail repair. It is wonderful to have my Sailrite sewing machine with us. We had some tears in the Genoa that were getting worse so we took her down and put on some patches - a new one is going to be ordered when we get back. The sewing machine has a hand crank for when you don’t have electricity so Ann sewed and Darrell was the cranker - LOL! We are a great team!!! After lunch, we went to Thunderball Grotto (yes where the movie scenes were shot) and snorkeled - it was a beautiful spot! We saw Sandy and Jerry coming up in the dinghy - they caught up with us again. We went to dinner with them again last night because they had caught three good sized Mahi-Mahi (dolphin)! It was delicious!!! Thank you Skip, Jeannie, Jerry, and Sandy for the fresh fish!
Yesterday afternoon in our “exploring” we came across another Island Packet boat. When we went by to greet them and compliment them - we learned that she is hull #2 - we have hull #3 of this vintage of boat of which I seem to recall about 200-300 made. We hope to have Happy Hour with Ted and Marilyn tonight since we already had plans with No Agenda when they invited us. This is their first big adventure too - they have had their boat for a couple of years. Boat name was Cygnus - Dick and Nelda ever seen this one?
We just listened to the weather that is broadcast every morning on Single Side Band radio (like ham radio) and it sounds very unsettled here now. I know it SURE is humid!! Nothing is getting dry on this boat. I am amazed that we have lived on her for a year and not had the same issues. There is a guy named Chris Parker who gives the forecast from his sailboat every morning and it helps to get this information.
When in a foreign country you fly a “courtesy” flag of that country on the starboard flag halyard. On the port side you can fly other ones. When we though Skip was getting closer to us, we raised the Texas flag that Ann bought on a trip home to Amarillo. We will see if there are other Texans out here cruising. Of course the US flag is the largest and is displayed at the stern.
We are studying charts and trying to decide which route we would prefer for the trip home. We could round the southern tip of Andros and spend a few days at Cay Sal Banks - Capt. AL????? Or we could head northwest toward Morgan’s Bluff (also on Andros) before making the Gulf Stream Crossing. All of you with more experience than us feel free to offer advice!!!
Well, we’re off the make flight reservations and do some conching today. I hope to learn the art of cracked conch - that was what we had for lunch yesterday at SCYC (Staniel Cay Yacht Club). I wouldn’t exactly call this place a yacht club but it is the only restaurant in town open for lunch. Ask Ann about the excellent service she got! More later gang.
Love,
Alibi Crew
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=24.39213,-76.074829&spn=0.958027,2.458191&t=h&z=9
We arrived at Staniel Cay in the central Bahamas two days ago. The sail on Monday was the best one we have had so far - it was a close reach to a beam reach and much calmer than heading straight into it. For those who don’t know points of sail - you can’t sail directly INTO the wind and the more directly you go into it the rougher the ride.. We are at the destination where Ann can get a flight to Ft. Lauderdale next week and Darrell has everything he needs while she is gone. The trip is going great except we feel like we have passed up so many places that we would like to do more exploring but we had to get to here for our “Agenda”. We will definitely be back!
We had been seeing something called sand bores on the charts and didn’t know exactly what they were. Darrell equated them with “boars” and has had some bad dreams about sand boars getting Roxy. We finally saw an explanation on a chart - a sand bore is a living, fluid, moving sand bar and in the Bahamas that can be significant. There is a lot of water that moves across the shallow “banks” of the Bahamas with each tide change. The only bores we had to worry about are the BOAR (note singular) that lives on Big Major Cay. We took Roxy to shore yesterday afternoon to do her duty and the pigs left their nap spots under some trees to come and greet us. These are good sized pigs, mind you - in fact we dreamed of all of the cuts of meat we could have if we butchered one of them (LOL). The male pig made advances towards Roxy in an aggressive nature - Darrell had to “convince” him to get back to his nap time by popping him a time or two with the dog leash - the only bad thing was that the first “pop” was a direct hit to his shin from the metal latch. Roxy sure was curious and wanted to follow those big fellers.
We spent the morning yesterday doing some sail repair. It is wonderful to have my Sailrite sewing machine with us. We had some tears in the Genoa that were getting worse so we took her down and put on some patches - a new one is going to be ordered when we get back. The sewing machine has a hand crank for when you don’t have electricity so Ann sewed and Darrell was the cranker - LOL! We are a great team!!! After lunch, we went to Thunderball Grotto (yes where the movie scenes were shot) and snorkeled - it was a beautiful spot! We saw Sandy and Jerry coming up in the dinghy - they caught up with us again. We went to dinner with them again last night because they had caught three good sized Mahi-Mahi (dolphin)! It was delicious!!! Thank you Skip, Jeannie, Jerry, and Sandy for the fresh fish!
Yesterday afternoon in our “exploring” we came across another Island Packet boat. When we went by to greet them and compliment them - we learned that she is hull #2 - we have hull #3 of this vintage of boat of which I seem to recall about 200-300 made. We hope to have Happy Hour with Ted and Marilyn tonight since we already had plans with No Agenda when they invited us. This is their first big adventure too - they have had their boat for a couple of years. Boat name was Cygnus - Dick and Nelda ever seen this one?
We just listened to the weather that is broadcast every morning on Single Side Band radio (like ham radio) and it sounds very unsettled here now. I know it SURE is humid!! Nothing is getting dry on this boat. I am amazed that we have lived on her for a year and not had the same issues. There is a guy named Chris Parker who gives the forecast from his sailboat every morning and it helps to get this information.
When in a foreign country you fly a “courtesy” flag of that country on the starboard flag halyard. On the port side you can fly other ones. When we though Skip was getting closer to us, we raised the Texas flag that Ann bought on a trip home to Amarillo. We will see if there are other Texans out here cruising. Of course the US flag is the largest and is displayed at the stern.
We are studying charts and trying to decide which route we would prefer for the trip home. We could round the southern tip of Andros and spend a few days at Cay Sal Banks - Capt. AL????? Or we could head northwest toward Morgan’s Bluff (also on Andros) before making the Gulf Stream Crossing. All of you with more experience than us feel free to offer advice!!!
Well, we’re off the make flight reservations and do some conching today. I hope to learn the art of cracked conch - that was what we had for lunch yesterday at SCYC (Staniel Cay Yacht Club). I wouldn’t exactly call this place a yacht club but it is the only restaurant in town open for lunch. Ask Ann about the excellent service she got! More later gang.
Love,
Alibi Crew
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=24.39213,-76.074829&spn=0.958027,2.458191&t=h&z=9
Monday, May 17, 2010
Exuma Cay Land and Sea Park
May 17, 2010
Exuma Cay Land And Sea Park Headquarters on Warderick Wells Cay. We have been here for a couple of days. We finally got to see our friends Jerry, Sandy, Skip, and Jeannie on the boat “No Agenda”. We snorkeled some coral heads at slack tide yesterday and Roxy romped on the sand bar behind us at low tide. Darrell saw two big eagle rays and the rest was your same variety of creatures that we see in Florida. When No Agenda got settled, Sandy came snorkeling over to Alibi. She is a fish!! They all came and had cocktails with us then we dinghied over for cocktails and dinner. We brought the five cleaned conch and they made cracked conch appetizers. We had a wonderful time and great food. Darrell was impressed with Ann’s night vision to bring the dinghy back home after dark - he was in no shape to drive thanks to Sandy’s bartending skills - LOL. We also want to comment about the beautiful trawler that No Agenda is - she has LARGE, clean engine rooms and beautiful accommodations. What a beauty! We are preparing to leave today to go south to Big Majors or Staniel Cay to get Ann’s flight arrangements made - otherwise we would stay and go scuba diving with Jerry and Sandy.
And by the way - knock on wood - the water pump is still functioning properly. More adventures later folks. We love you guys!
Exuma Cay Land And Sea Park Headquarters on Warderick Wells Cay. We have been here for a couple of days. We finally got to see our friends Jerry, Sandy, Skip, and Jeannie on the boat “No Agenda”. We snorkeled some coral heads at slack tide yesterday and Roxy romped on the sand bar behind us at low tide. Darrell saw two big eagle rays and the rest was your same variety of creatures that we see in Florida. When No Agenda got settled, Sandy came snorkeling over to Alibi. She is a fish!! They all came and had cocktails with us then we dinghied over for cocktails and dinner. We brought the five cleaned conch and they made cracked conch appetizers. We had a wonderful time and great food. Darrell was impressed with Ann’s night vision to bring the dinghy back home after dark - he was in no shape to drive thanks to Sandy’s bartending skills - LOL. We also want to comment about the beautiful trawler that No Agenda is - she has LARGE, clean engine rooms and beautiful accommodations. What a beauty! We are preparing to leave today to go south to Big Majors or Staniel Cay to get Ann’s flight arrangements made - otherwise we would stay and go scuba diving with Jerry and Sandy.
And by the way - knock on wood - the water pump is still functioning properly. More adventures later folks. We love you guys!
Saturday, May 15, 2010
May 9-15, 2010
May 9-15, 2010
Well as you can see it has been quite a while since we had internet coverage. We are still doing fine and having a great time!! We made it to Chub Cay by 2 PM on Mother’s Day and enjoyed brief conversations with our Moms and as you know we had internet coverage at that anchorage - Yahoo!!
We left Chub on Monday morning for New Providence Island at about 2 PM. It was a tough crossing but we made it into West Bay, NP and stayed there for a couple of days because it was too nasty to try and go around the northern coast to get to Nassau. On the crossing, ann was fishing and lost a big one when she set the drag on the fishing pole too tight. DARN!!!! The plan was to get some needed provisions there before going on. On one day (Tuesday), we did laundry by hand in a five gallon bucket - Darrell did! Ann baked two loaves of homemade bread. We also got the oil changed on Alibi and were able to take trash to shore in a dumpster there. Most of the shoreline where we were anchored was private so not much to do in the way of excursions. We did have company from two boats named Aftermath and Lady Blue - can’t recall all four names of the people but we enjoyed some conversation and some homemade fresh bread with them.
On Wednesday, it was deceptively calmer in the morning so we took off for the Exhumas at 0745 AM. It was a tough slog up wind for about 12 hours but we made it to Highborne Cay just after dark. That is the problem……we couldn’t get here any sooner than we did but navigating these waters without VPR (visual piloting reference) is not recommended. We made it safely into a straightforward spot and stayed for 2 nights.
We have been having issues with water pumps since we bought the boat and we think we finally have solved the problems. The original pump had a new pressure switch but still wasn’t working so we replaced it before we left. The NEW pump worked fine before departure but sometime during the first few days started working overtime and we figured out it was losing it’s prime. We kept standing on our heads in the compartment where it lives and working on it. Finally a couple of day ago, we took the elbow fitting loose from the main water tank. We found, as we had in the pre-pump filters, small bits of coral shells clogging the pipe at the elbow. We blew it out and it has been working for the last couple of days - keep your fingers crossed! This is all downplayed about a thousand times - at least Ann’s frustrations with it.
We refueled at Highborne Cay Marina yesterday at around 1 PM and sailed south to Norman Cay. We arrived here about 2 PM after a nail bighting trip into this anchorage at low tide. The waters are strewn with coral heads all over and Darrell was standing on the bow of the boat giving me hand signals on directions to steer the boat. He looked like he was dancing or doing a puppet show with all the hand signals! We have decided to leave here at high tide which in in about an hour.
We went ashore to MacDuff’s Bar and Grill and had late lunch/dinner and cocktails yesterday. We had come here to find out information about flights to Ft. Lauderdale since there is an airstrip on this island. The flights are sporadic and a little costly unless you share the ride with other travelers so we are headed south to make Staniel Cay by Monday to try and get reservations for a week from this Monday for Ann to fly back to do some office work. Between here and Staniel is the Exuma Land and Sea Park that we hope to spend some time ashore exploring.
We hope this finds all of you healthy and happy. We still have not been able to find our friends on “No Agenda” - a trawler that left the USA a couple of days after we did for the Bahamas. They could be stuck in or around Andros with all the winds but we hope to see them in the next few days. Winds are predicted to be down on Wednesday so they may cross to here (Exumas) then.
Oh, I forgot to mention how great Darrell has become at gathering conch and we have both become much improved at cleaning them - we have five in the fridge waiting for me to make him some cracked conch or some more ceviche. For those that don’t know there is an art to getting the muscle out of the shell and not a lot to show for all your effort after you do - but we LOVE conch!
Hugs and Kisses,
DnA and Roxy
Current location is Exuma Land and Sea Park on Warderick Wells Cay in central Exumas - with the slowest internet connection I've seen in a long time!! But I do have internet!!
No pictures today at this speed!
Well as you can see it has been quite a while since we had internet coverage. We are still doing fine and having a great time!! We made it to Chub Cay by 2 PM on Mother’s Day and enjoyed brief conversations with our Moms and as you know we had internet coverage at that anchorage - Yahoo!!
We left Chub on Monday morning for New Providence Island at about 2 PM. It was a tough crossing but we made it into West Bay, NP and stayed there for a couple of days because it was too nasty to try and go around the northern coast to get to Nassau. On the crossing, ann was fishing and lost a big one when she set the drag on the fishing pole too tight. DARN!!!! The plan was to get some needed provisions there before going on. On one day (Tuesday), we did laundry by hand in a five gallon bucket - Darrell did! Ann baked two loaves of homemade bread. We also got the oil changed on Alibi and were able to take trash to shore in a dumpster there. Most of the shoreline where we were anchored was private so not much to do in the way of excursions. We did have company from two boats named Aftermath and Lady Blue - can’t recall all four names of the people but we enjoyed some conversation and some homemade fresh bread with them.
On Wednesday, it was deceptively calmer in the morning so we took off for the Exhumas at 0745 AM. It was a tough slog up wind for about 12 hours but we made it to Highborne Cay just after dark. That is the problem……we couldn’t get here any sooner than we did but navigating these waters without VPR (visual piloting reference) is not recommended. We made it safely into a straightforward spot and stayed for 2 nights.
We have been having issues with water pumps since we bought the boat and we think we finally have solved the problems. The original pump had a new pressure switch but still wasn’t working so we replaced it before we left. The NEW pump worked fine before departure but sometime during the first few days started working overtime and we figured out it was losing it’s prime. We kept standing on our heads in the compartment where it lives and working on it. Finally a couple of day ago, we took the elbow fitting loose from the main water tank. We found, as we had in the pre-pump filters, small bits of coral shells clogging the pipe at the elbow. We blew it out and it has been working for the last couple of days - keep your fingers crossed! This is all downplayed about a thousand times - at least Ann’s frustrations with it.
We refueled at Highborne Cay Marina yesterday at around 1 PM and sailed south to Norman Cay. We arrived here about 2 PM after a nail bighting trip into this anchorage at low tide. The waters are strewn with coral heads all over and Darrell was standing on the bow of the boat giving me hand signals on directions to steer the boat. He looked like he was dancing or doing a puppet show with all the hand signals! We have decided to leave here at high tide which in in about an hour.
We went ashore to MacDuff’s Bar and Grill and had late lunch/dinner and cocktails yesterday. We had come here to find out information about flights to Ft. Lauderdale since there is an airstrip on this island. The flights are sporadic and a little costly unless you share the ride with other travelers so we are headed south to make Staniel Cay by Monday to try and get reservations for a week from this Monday for Ann to fly back to do some office work. Between here and Staniel is the Exuma Land and Sea Park that we hope to spend some time ashore exploring.
We hope this finds all of you healthy and happy. We still have not been able to find our friends on “No Agenda” - a trawler that left the USA a couple of days after we did for the Bahamas. They could be stuck in or around Andros with all the winds but we hope to see them in the next few days. Winds are predicted to be down on Wednesday so they may cross to here (Exumas) then.
Oh, I forgot to mention how great Darrell has become at gathering conch and we have both become much improved at cleaning them - we have five in the fridge waiting for me to make him some cracked conch or some more ceviche. For those that don’t know there is an art to getting the muscle out of the shell and not a lot to show for all your effort after you do - but we LOVE conch!
Hugs and Kisses,
DnA and Roxy
Current location is Exuma Land and Sea Park on Warderick Wells Cay in central Exumas - with the slowest internet connection I've seen in a long time!! But I do have internet!!
No pictures today at this speed!
Sunday, May 9, 2010
May 8, 2010
After the last entry, we walked up the hill to have a rum runner and prepare for the hike back to our harbor. Well on our walk up the hill, a very nice local stopped and offered us a ride saying how hot it was and we deserved a ride. His name was Lawrence and he was born and raised on Great Harbor Cay. We went snorkeling near our anchorage and had a great time. Roxy has a ball at every beach running and swimming. We caught two conch and had conch ceviche for our dinner. Darrell’s new name is “Conch Slayer” and ask him how easy it is to remove the conch from the shell.
We started a little late this morning to leave the anchorage and sailed about 10 nautical miles to Devil’s-Hoffman anchorage. It is beautiful here and a definite one that we want to return to. Pictures show a Blue Hole on Hoffman Cay and some beautiful sunset shots of our boat at anchor. We really like the Berry Islands and could just stay here for the entire Bahamas visit.
We are sitting here now listening to the Nascar race and planning the day’s route for tomorrow. We NEED to be in cell phone coverage to call our Moms tomorrow. Plan is to head south to Frazer’s Hog Cay or somewhere near Chub Cay. When the cold front moves through, we hope to get some good winds to cross over to New Providence Island - where Nassau is. We plan to get some provisions, do some laundry and head south to the Exhumas after that.
After the last entry, we walked up the hill to have a rum runner and prepare for the hike back to our harbor. Well on our walk up the hill, a very nice local stopped and offered us a ride saying how hot it was and we deserved a ride. His name was Lawrence and he was born and raised on Great Harbor Cay. We went snorkeling near our anchorage and had a great time. Roxy has a ball at every beach running and swimming. We caught two conch and had conch ceviche for our dinner. Darrell’s new name is “Conch Slayer” and ask him how easy it is to remove the conch from the shell.
We started a little late this morning to leave the anchorage and sailed about 10 nautical miles to Devil’s-Hoffman anchorage. It is beautiful here and a definite one that we want to return to. Pictures show a Blue Hole on Hoffman Cay and some beautiful sunset shots of our boat at anchor. We really like the Berry Islands and could just stay here for the entire Bahamas visit.
We are sitting here now listening to the Nascar race and planning the day’s route for tomorrow. We NEED to be in cell phone coverage to call our Moms tomorrow. Plan is to head south to Frazer’s Hog Cay or somewhere near Chub Cay. When the cold front moves through, we hope to get some good winds to cross over to New Providence Island - where Nassau is. We plan to get some provisions, do some laundry and head south to the Exhumas after that.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Berry Islands
May 7, 2010
We arrived in the Berry Islands on Thursday early morning hours after crossing the Great Bahamas Banks. Left Bimini at 11:30 AM and traveled 81 nautical miles mostly under sail but some motroing because of no winds. After anchoring in Slaughter Harbor to sleep a few hours, we decided to leave when the cruise ships arrived with the megaphone announcements to the passengers, the wave runners tours, kayakers, and the parasail boats running all around us. We felt like we never left Key Largo!!
We pulled anchor and did a short, pleasant sail around Great Harbor Cay to Petit Cay and a beautiful anchorage. It is a big lagoon with sandy beaches around most of it. We had breakfast at the Beach Club and walked over to Bullocks Harbor - Great Harbor Cay Marina to get wifi. After getting directions to the marina, we started off and turned back thinking we were lost (within about 100 yards of the turn to the marina).
We will stay here for at least one more day and then consider heading south. There is a weather front coming that offers a great opportunity to head south - we hope to get some sailing in the Exumas.
We arrived in the Berry Islands on Thursday early morning hours after crossing the Great Bahamas Banks. Left Bimini at 11:30 AM and traveled 81 nautical miles mostly under sail but some motroing because of no winds. After anchoring in Slaughter Harbor to sleep a few hours, we decided to leave when the cruise ships arrived with the megaphone announcements to the passengers, the wave runners tours, kayakers, and the parasail boats running all around us. We felt like we never left Key Largo!!
We pulled anchor and did a short, pleasant sail around Great Harbor Cay to Petit Cay and a beautiful anchorage. It is a big lagoon with sandy beaches around most of it. We had breakfast at the Beach Club and walked over to Bullocks Harbor - Great Harbor Cay Marina to get wifi. After getting directions to the marina, we started off and turned back thinking we were lost (within about 100 yards of the turn to the marina).
We will stay here for at least one more day and then consider heading south. There is a weather front coming that offers a great opportunity to head south - we hope to get some sailing in the Exumas.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Bahamas Trip
Arrived Bimini and leaving today May 5, 2010 for points east. The cut and paste feature that I thought would work is not working. Running out of time to depart slip without another day's fees. Will add the detailed information at next stop.
Below is the cut and paste version:
Saturday, May 1, 2010
1630 left Sundowner’s Anchorage heading north to Pumpkin Key. Anchored for the night near Ocean Reef. Spent the night and part of next day rearranging provisions and preparing the boat for the Gulf Stream Crossing. Left in the afternoon heading for Carysfort Reef. Arrived at Carysfort in the late afternoon and tied up to a mooring ball on the northwest corner for dinner. What a mistake!! We thought that the waters would be calmer behind the protection of the reef and they were……but!! With a southeast wind coming around the reef - we had a washing machine agitator going on with 3 ft waves. We moved moorings just before dark but to no avail! Have you ever tried to sleep in a washing machine???
We left Carysfort Reef at 0630 (later than earlier planned because of the waves and we were afraid to begin the crossing in the dark). This turned out to be a good call - wave height was 5-7 on the reef and five footers for the first hour. We had planned to stick our nose out there to be sure that we were ready for whatever the Atlantic had to give us - and we were good with the conditions - always willing to turn back if necessary. We began with SE 20 knot winds predicted to decrease and we began the trip with everything reefed to the max until we got comfortable. We eventually shook out all the reefs and Alibi stopped rolling so much - we set sail for Bimini. We calculated the course based on everything we had read and were accounting for about a 2.5 knot Gulf Stream flow (because of the SE winds for several days). Turns out that we underestimated the actual flow of the Gulf Stream but with the direction of the winds, we couldn‘t compensate any more - we ended about eight miles north of Bimini and had to tack back.
We arrived at Bimini at around 5:30 and by the time the anchor (note singular) was set it was about 6. Darrell took off in the dinghy with our important papers to get us cleared through Customs. After about a mile hike he found out they were closed and would reopen at 9AM. He reloaded Roxy in the dink and took her for a little exercise and potty break. After they were gone about 30-40 minutes, Ann heard something on the VHF radio that sounded like Alibi. It was Darrell calling. He said the dinghy was out of gas. What were we to do - Ann on the “big boat” all alone and Darrell & Roxy on a dock with security telling him he had to leave. After a fretful few minutes trying to figure out what to do - Darrell finally came up with a solution and it got him back. After Darrell’s arrival at Alibi - we were concerned that the changing tide might have us grounded - since we only had one anchor out. Darrell’s brother had called and since we don’t know Ann’s password to voicemail, we had to just go ahead and call him. After a short conversation, the phone went dead in Darrell’s hand. Since we were concerned about the tides, he didn’t try to call Mike back - sorry guys!
So we weighed the anchor (singular) and drove the “big boat” out a narrow channel in the dark. Not a great idea to navigate this course at night. Ann finally had to drive the boat out because she is better at following “bread crumb trails” left by GPSs and Darrell is better at night vision so we combined our two strengths to get us out into deeper water. Now, where is there a good anchorage for us to spend the night? None. We call a marina on the radio and go back in the same channel we just left (not recommended to do at night or in a west wind situation). Got her docked - Ann was even challenged at this because we were so tired!! We stayed at Bimini Sands Marina for the night - beautiful, clean and all the amenities of a US marina.
Darrell went to customs in the morning after a very restful night. We spent the day at the marina cleaning the boat, cleaning Darrell and Ann and Roxy, and resting. As we write this we are contemplating the next portion of our journey. After studying the charts and guide books, its off to navigate the Bahama Banks for about 16 hours of sailing to more islands (probably Great Harbor Cay).
P.S. For those who were skeptical when we bought a pressure canner and talked of canning meat: we have had spagetti with the hamburger and we had brisket with potatoes, garlic and onions last night that was so tender we cut it with a fork!
Saturday, April 24, 2010
It is hard to believe it is now a year since we became the new owners of Alibi!! We are so proud of her and so glad we have her.
Here is a brief recap of the year:
Five day sail from St. Augustine to bring her home.
Got hit by lightening about a week after getting her to Key Largo.
New alternator and regulator.
New exterior canvas including a bimini, dodger, and mainsail cover.
New Mainsail.
New electronics including Garmin chartplotter, radar, and sonar.
New lifelines.
Sand and varnish all exterior teak.
Hand rub all interior teak with Scott's Liquid Gold.
New water pump after many attempts to fix leaks on old one.
New wind generator.
New dinghy.
Several short sails around Blackwater Sound and a few longer ones around the islands of the Keys.
Dividers made by Darrell for settee storage to accommodate canning jars.
Ann has been learning to can meats for provisions for longer sail trips.
List still to do:
Recertify liferaft.
Fix autopilot.
Fix cockpit mic for VHF radio.
New inverter/charger (fried by lightening).
Recover cockpit cushions and interior cushions.
More coats of varnish on exterior teak.
Fresh bottom paint in the next year or so.
New foresail and staysail.
More sail trips to further destinations.
Stay tuned, if all goes according to our plans, we will be in the Bahamas the first part of May - perhaps into part of June. There will be more frequent posts here if/when this trip indeed happens.
Here is a brief recap of the year:
Five day sail from St. Augustine to bring her home.
Got hit by lightening about a week after getting her to Key Largo.
New alternator and regulator.
New exterior canvas including a bimini, dodger, and mainsail cover.
New Mainsail.
New electronics including Garmin chartplotter, radar, and sonar.
New lifelines.
Sand and varnish all exterior teak.
Hand rub all interior teak with Scott's Liquid Gold.
New water pump after many attempts to fix leaks on old one.
New wind generator.
New dinghy.
Several short sails around Blackwater Sound and a few longer ones around the islands of the Keys.
Dividers made by Darrell for settee storage to accommodate canning jars.
Ann has been learning to can meats for provisions for longer sail trips.
List still to do:
Recertify liferaft.
Fix autopilot.
Fix cockpit mic for VHF radio.
New inverter/charger (fried by lightening).
Recover cockpit cushions and interior cushions.
More coats of varnish on exterior teak.
Fresh bottom paint in the next year or so.
New foresail and staysail.
More sail trips to further destinations.
Stay tuned, if all goes according to our plans, we will be in the Bahamas the first part of May - perhaps into part of June. There will be more frequent posts here if/when this trip indeed happens.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
We're on the way back from the cold and snowy Texas Panhandle. When we get back, we have a list of things we want to get done on the boat. We have done quite a few things since the last post here..... Will update with a few pictures later. We are dreaming of a way to escape south Florida and go to the Bahamas. Stay tuned for the updates - sorry for the long time since the last post!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)