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
Ann, Darrell and Roxy,
ReplyDeleteWe sure have enjoyed reading about your wonderful journey. It is the next best thing to being there. Ann is that Bimini bread you are holding in that picture? Please be safe and we can't wait for you to return home. Maybe we can have a welcome home party and hear all about your travels in person. Hugs and Kisses!
Wayne and Sherry.
No that is Ann bread, Sherry. We never got any Bimini bread but got some fresh made in Staniel Cay.
ReplyDelete