Wow this life is great!  We are going to be grandparents in the fall !!!  We are so excited and happy for Jessica and Craig. 

Well, we stayed in the George Town area a lot longer than we had planned - for those of you on Facebook, you already knew that. We took HAM radio licensing exams so we stayed there to take the tests on the 24th of Feb (weather also kept us there too).  We have 2 new technician class operators and one general class. The tests are very difficult with lots of electrical theory, etc. Anyway, I passed the general on the second attempt but Darrell didn't want any more punishment. These licenses give us another communication tool - with a special modem we can get e-mail and weather information via SSB. 

George Town is on the largest island of the Exuma chain. And it is the largest settlement for quite a distance. It is a very popular winter cruising destination and can have hundreds of boats in the harbor at any given time. It boasts an extensive "cruisers net" and I would compare the social activities there to a cruise ship. With all the boats comes a LOT of boat "chatter" over the VHF marine radio. We had to get away from that. 

So we stocked up last week on supplies and departed GT. Nice place to get supplies AND water is free there.  We crossed to Long Island and anchored in Joe Sound to weather out the next frontal passage. Monday (March 6) we sailed south for Thompson Bay/Salt Pond. 

There is a place here that caters to cruisers called Long Island Breeze so I showered, we did laundry, had a great cracked conch lunch, AND I was able to get an Internet " fix"!  I feel like I am a technical "geek" with my need for communication. I will add that we call family every several days to check in but at the international rates, the conversations are brief. 

We are preparing to head back to George Town because we have a guest coming. Captain Jim Fagan is coming to spend his spring break with us. He teaches school and works for a water towing service in the winters and works at Captain Slate's Atlantis Dive Shop in the summers (also worked for us too). We are excited about having company. 

We have been meeting other cruisers too. They hail from all over and many only cruise in the winter months. We exchange boat cards (business cards with contact information) and have quite a collection. One lady puts smiley faces on them if she likes you (her code is a frown if she doesn't).  We hadn't given them one yet so we plastered a big, red smiley face on ours - LOL!!  Then gave it to her. 

In the early part of our trip, I was beginning to wonder if cruising and/or "unemployment " was going to suit us as we seemed to be crossways a lot. Well, it wasn't anything other than the fact that Darrell was trying to quit smoking. Yes folks, he left Key Largo with one - yes, one cigarette!!  Am I crazy for starting this adventure like that or what!?!?!  Anyway we learned that he can smoke the brands they have here instead of the US brand of cigarettes for less than he would buy them for in the states. They just aren't available everywhere. Since I didn't kill him in the first few days of the trip, I think I'll keep him. Yes, we almost turned this boat around and came home!!  So glad we didn't!

I'm sure there will be many tales to write of after Fagan has been here so stay tuned. OR plan a visit yourself and you could have stories about you on the Internet -- LOL. Cheers!
Mellie, our current location is:
N 23 22.2'
W 075 7.58'

Pictures will be posted later - haven't had time to get them loaded on this computer. Sorry.....having too much fun!!! Current position, Mellie is N 23 degrees 30 minutes 14 seconds W 075 degrees 46 minutes 3 seconds.

January is over!!! Well we rested a day in Chub Cay Harbor and it was a beautiful day. We met a Polish man at the dock when Darrell was coming back from Customs - name was Kaz (probably shortened for his US friends). Turns out he owned the boat we saw that morning after it got light that was against the rocks on shore. Two days earlier, they had a front blow through there and he broke anchor in the 50 knot winds. Being a smart seaman, he started the engine to motor into the wind to keep his boat safe. But his anchor line fouled his prop and he ended up in the rocky shore. He told us the entire port side of his hull was a gaping hole and he was staying in the motel on the island and going to the boat once a day at low tide to salvage what he could from the boat. Darrell thought he was having a yard sale when he walked by his room on the way back from Customs (how they met). The day of the storm on Chub is the same day we tried to leave Key Largo and turned around because the waves were just too big for us - so glad we turned around!!!

We crossed the Northwest Providence Channel on Sunday to New Providence Island and entered Nassau Harbor. We docked at Nassau Yacht Haven for a night. Just about five miles before we got to the harbor entrance, Darrell caught a Mahi-Mahi (dolfin fish). Wooooo Hoooo fresh fish for dinner!! If we needed any supplies, this would be a good place to get them but we are still pretty well stocked up. We did a load of laundry (especially the bloody towels from the fish) and took showers before heading out again for the Exuma Islands. Mellie, the numbers at Yacht Haven are N25 4 49’ W077 19 2’. Nice place but not exactly what the name implies.

Roxy now has her sea legs back - that first day or two she was a lap dog. Whoever was not at the helm of the boat, she was in their lap. She got to go swimming at Chub Cay and passed up another chance the evening before we left. She is loving life now, complete with fresh fish and all that. As a matter of fact, we all are!!

We entered the Exuma Island chain at Highborne Cay and spent one night there before returning to one of my favorites, Norman Cay. There is a restaurant/bar there that reminds me of Key Largo. Anyway, we had to have a beer there before journeying farther south. We sailed south to Exuma Land And Sea Park on Warderick Wells for a night before leaving for Big Farmers Cay. We were trying to reach Farmers before Friday for the festival. It is called the 5F: Farmers Cay First Friday in February Festival. Smart business man, Terry Bain, owner of Ocean Cabin there. Get all these US people who want to watch the Super Bowl and party started early. Darrell said “I’ll bet these local folks are saying give away a bottle of rum and these white folks will do about anything”. We witnessed the best legs and best buns contest with about 6 to 10 men about our age in the contests - wow, I could have missed that! We were told it got even racier than that. We saw our first island sloop regatta. Boy was that something. They can really maneuver those boats - I had to pull our dinghy in closer to the boat because I was scared they were going to hit it. Here are a few pictures of one of the races.

We slowly worked our way farther and farther south over the next few days until we arrived here at Georgetown. Our friend Stephen called this Chicken Island because many cruisers get here and get afraid to go any farther south. I’m just the opposite - this gives me the wanderlust for places more distant. It is a beautiful harbor with tons of sailboats at anchor. We are stopping here for a few days to replenish fuel, water and some groceries. We also plan to do some laundry while we are here for a few days waiting on a front to pass through. Yesterday after we got settled, we went to town to explore. I took my phone to check out wi-fi spots. I felt like an internet junkie when I was able to make a connection = the first one since Farmers. I couldn’t type fast enough!! LOL Anyway, we found a café with free wi-fi so I type this on the laptop to take in and upload to the blog. After the next front passes, we hope to venture down to the Jumentos and Ragged Islands next or we might go farther east. So much to see!! Dick and Nelda (former owners of Alibi), we sure appreciate all the notes you took when you were here! And Jack, you were right, Elizabeth Harbor is beautiful! We are eating like royalty and getting darker tans but enjoying every minute! Oh and I have put more varnish on some of the teak with plans to do more in the next few days, Jenn and Mike!! Thank you, Jessica Scott, for checking our mail for us! And perhaps we will have a visitor in March - Jim Fagan has expressed interest in coming down. Any other wannabe sailors????

Whew! A couple of long days sailing to get here but we arrived last evening at Chub Cay. We had great winds for sailing through except that the winds died to almost nothing on the way across the gulf stream. We crossed the Great Bahama Banks yesterday with winds out of the NNW at around 15 knots and 3 foot seas on a beam reach. (for my sailing friends) The only slight negative point in the whole trip so far was the anchorage the first night at South Riding Rock - rolly and a bit rough. Not a lot of rest that night for the crew and that makes for grumpyness (if a word) the next morning. We finally perked up after a couple of naps and got a good night's rest last night. Darrell's notes: We sailed about 150 miles on about 10 gallons of diesel, the wind made our electricity, so we are being green as we can be.

Will continue to update as we go. We intend to take more time to stop and smell the roses this time around.

Thursday morning left Key Largo for a sail. Perhaps Bahamas bound. We will see what the Gulf Stream has for us with 15 kts of North wind. Prediction is for it to come down to 10-15 later. This is the maiden sail with the new genoa. A beautiful morning I might add. We had a great farewell dinner with some wonderful friends last night. Stay tuned for updates, hopefully from Chub Cay if all goes well.
Alibi Crew clear

Wow! Just a little over a month since the last post - not bad for the unemployed - right? We have sold the dive business and are busy preparing the sail boat for the first "cruise" of many, we hope!!

So many things have been going on, I have to stop and think what we need to write about. In mid-December, we hauled the boat out in the boat yard to take advantage of our friend Capt. Al's expertise. There she remained while we went to Texas for Christmas and we got her back in the water just before New Year's. Projects completed since then include: New bottom paint, new Navy Blue Boot Stripe, new gold pin striping up top, complete polish and wax of the hull (a six step procedure), new cutless bearing, almost re-made rudder. The biggest hold-up on the work getting completed in the boatyard was the rudder - she had some blisters when we bought her and we wanted to get those fixed. After over a week of letting the rudder dry and assisting with heat lamps, there was still moisture behind the fiberglass. We stripped it naked and let it dry as much as possible before re fiberglassing it with some moisture still in there - we don't know how long it would have taken to completely dry out!!!! Anyway we splashed her with 3 days of 2010 left and have not stopped working on her yet. We are completely redoing the teak while we have electricity here at Key Largo Harbor Marina. HOPEFULLY, this is the last time we will have to take it down to bare wood for the next few years - lesson to self - put plenty of coats on the first time and take care of "dings" as soon as they happen. She will be beautiful when we are done!!

The other reason we have not left for parts unknown is that we have some "year end" things to tie up before we leave the country. Yes, we intend to be gone as soon as all the pieces and parts get taken care of - destination Bahamas. Departure date unknown. Stay tuned here and you will learn of our whereabouts.

While we are still close to the house, we have moved KC (pronounced Casey) the Kitty Cat on board. This is a trial run for all of us that we just did last night. So far, KC has done pretty well. Roxy isn't happy having to share her bed, boat, and us with anyone. Biggest hurdle is getting her used to indoor living (ie cat box) and then transitioning from that to her using the head for her duties. Darrell has renamed the boat Noah's Ark!! LOL

While here at the marina, we have made some new friends and gotten to know some "old" ones better. We are parked next to some people from Connecticut that we met last year when he did his open water dive certification at Island Ventures. They are some great people and we hope to get to see them many more times in our future travels.

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.

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!