Pigs, Fish and Sharks and More

Ah we now heading back north and have taken some time to see a few places that we passed by so fast on the way down. Working up the Exuma chain of cays we have taken our time in exploring a few areas that we have either read about or heard about by past cruisers, some we have even discovered on our own.
What a few months will do in teaching one. It is the great migration back north now as we seen going south. But now we know so many more cruisers then we did coming down and it is much more fun. We have been with Skip and Carol on Rhapsody now for a few weeks as they have a 1995 Catalina 36 also. During our trip Carol found a spot on their boat that she loved riding on as I would say it is a real life figured head for their boat. Skip is one that is well lets say older then I am but young in heart and mind. Between the 2 of us we have been fishing and snorkeling so much that we are now living on fish and lobster the last few week. Our spearing skills are growing but still have much to learn. Jeannie and Carol go along at times with us but to watch and float around while the hunters hunt. Grunts are a smaller fish but go a couple of pounds if you look for the bigger ones. After getting a few of them around the cuts of Big Majors I was cleaning them on the swim platform and happen to look down and oh yes. Sharks. But Nurse sharks, so I was not to worried but yet just a little concerned. I did take a few steps up the swim ladder so I was not all legs in he water. So I had to tell Rhapsody about the sharks. On the next day we got a couple of nice groupers up around Big Majors area again. That afternoon Skip said lets try it again with the groupers. So we both clean a grouper and as Skip was cleaning his I said ah we have company again. Sure enough. One shark,then 2 nurse sharks show up each around 5 to 6 feet long. So what we ended up doing is taking a 1/4 nylon line and running it through one of the groupers gills and tied it off and back in it went to the sharks. This went on for about 25 min and what a show we had with the sharks. Finally we gave in and untied the line but not till after they about jerked our arms off feeling the real power of the sharks.


Big Majors is known for the pigs on the island and it is a draw for tourist as well as cruisers. It is a place you can take your food scraps and feed the pigs. Well if your all wondering how salt pork is made we finally figured it out, they drink and swim in the salt water thus making them salty. Yea Right Uh! Well it is my story. The pigs are very friendly but we do respect that they are wild pigs as we have heard of stories of people being bitten.
Leaf Cay down by Lee Stocking island has a few iguanas on it and there you can do the same with your food scraps, well we did.
As it was not long and out they came, about 3 feet long. Up and down the Exumas there are a few islands that have iguanas on them. There is so much to learn about the Bahama's as there is so much history about them and what took place around each cay. After reading a book called the Out Island Doctor which is rare for me to be reading. It puts a lot of things into perspective in what we are seeing. The area around pipe creek use to be used by the US military for military tracking. There is still buildings standing that you can rummage around in. A few years before we came down I met a cruiser online that their boat is called Veranda. Well he took a picture that captivated me and I had to seek it out, well long behold we found it and added our own twist to it from what all the other boats have added over the years. Then during the drug days of the 70s Carlos Lehder ruled on Normans Cay. Many buildings are still standing as some still have bullet holes with in them. weather wise it is starting to get warmer as we have had a lot of high 70's to 80's days and very few clouds, something we seem to always seem to have in Michigan, Clouds that is. As we move up the Exuma Islands you can start seeing the change in land formation and as the cays seen to get much more thinner and less land mass. While we stopped up around Little Sail Cay for a night I figured as soon as the anchor went down it was time to go get diner. So off we went and a few hours later we had a few nice catches. Well Spearing. When we crossed over to the Abaco's it was a 52 mile ocean run for us and it was a motor sail day as we wanted to be in by dark. The seas were rather flat and more like doing a lake Michigan crossing. Jeannie is getting better at bigger water so we chose to go a day sooner as if we had waited we could have sailed more. Arriving at Lynyard Cay we noticed off in the distance we could see smoke in quite a few places. It has been very dry on Great Abaco island and they were just letting it burn out.
Not sure how long this has been burning but we saw it for 3 days..Then we moved up to Hope Town as it is a small and well protected harbor as we had a cold front coming and were told winds of 50 kts with it. So we took a mooring ball. Well a day later we had that front and we saw 47 kts on the knot meter. Hope Town is very small and quaint but a tourist town. It has a actual working light house that we had toured and went up inside.All 101 steps up to the top.There is nothing that is automated about it as it is all original. It is like a old cuckoo clock where the weight is wound up to the top and as it revolves the weight slowly drops over the night It was very interesting as each night you can see the keeper lighting it if you look though the binoculars.



After leaving Hope Town we had a long ride to Marsh Harbor, 9 miles. Wha hoo. What we have noticed about the Abacos is . It is like being back in a big city. Boats galore and people everyplace. Something we are not use to and we have actually got to the point we like being away from it all. Hard to believe I know. One of our walking trips we came across this sign here in the Abacos that we had to get a picture of it.

We are planning on crossing back over in the next couple of weeks and doing a run to Jacksonville Fl if we get a good weather window. So we will post once we get back to the states and let you know how the crossing went.

Endless Summer

After spending around a month in Georgetown it was time to move on. Georgetown is a nice place for services and what ever you need, but way to many boats for us. The weather has been great as it is always sunny and I believe we had one day of rain for a few hours during our stay there. Do not get me wrong if you like structured events and certain times to do things then Georgetown is your place to be. They have crafts , volleyball, different seminars on cruising topics, and poker ect. On one of the morning vhf Georgetown nets it was talking about the poker night prior and it sounded like it got rather heated. It would have been just as fun to set and drink beer and watch the adults piss and moan because they could not get in to play poker. But it is way to structured for us. Last count we heard was over 350 boats in the harbor. While Jeannie was gone back to the states I had no trouble staying busy. Georgetown is like the catch all. It where everyone you have met along the way seems to end up. Jeannie arrived back on the 15 of February and was glad to be back in the warmth and sun. I think she finally figured out that the snow is not in her vocabulary. As getting snowed in a few times and the cars stuck while at home was not fun. During Jeannie’s time away I had dinner with Lori and Clint on Escort a few times along with a few on Polar Pacer. Just about everyday I was out snorkeling trying to hone my spearing skills to provide us with a few seafood dinners. A lot of time was spent with Steve and on Hey Jude and Clint and Lori on Escort out in the Sound of the Exumas as that is where the fish and lobster hang out. My trouble is that not knowing what to eat as I am at a point I do not shoot unless I plan on eating the fish. But shooting and hitting the fish is a skill also. So now that is a double whammy on my half. Well thankfully we have met up with Sapphire and Barry on Night Hawk. Between these 2 guys the have taught me some of the in and out of spearing. One of the first was I was passing up way to many fish that were great eating. So getting that down pat now we are having some fish for dinners. Lobster, well that is a different story. They hide out in totally different places then fish as one needs to think like a lobster and where would you want to hide. Down under the ledges and under the rocks down deeper. With that down now I working on honing those skills as well. I can say now that we have had 5 lobsters but a couple were on the small side. Fish, well they are easier to get at times. But you can tell the ones that have been shot at before. They are more elusive and harder to get.

Getting out of Georgetown was nice as getting over to Long Island was like leaving a huge city of people and moving to the country. They have about the same number of stores and as well stocked as Georgetown does. But way less people and boats. We counted 34 one day and that was the high that we have seen so far. Local people here are very friendly and always glad to speak to you or to help you in any way they can. Long Island Breeze is a local resort that caters to the cruisers as Mike and Jackie are a couple that run it and Mike does a morning net on the vhf radio at 8:30 to give you some news, weather and local info. Long Island will be our furthest point south that we will go as we wanted to actually get in the tropics to say we had Mutual Fun in the tropics. Some of our days include long walks out on the beaches on the Atlantic side of the island looking at all the trash and finding what one might be able to use. Then snorkeling at low tide amongst the coral heads and elk coral searching for food and fish searching for us, Sharks yep we’ve see them off and on while snorkeling. 2 of the days on Long Island we took and shared a rental car with Rhapsody which is also a Catalina 36. Skip and Carol had already been at Long Island once before this year so they were our tour guides and all of us had so much fun. The first day we toured the southern end of Long Island down all the way to Clarence town. There we toured one of the older churches which up in the one of the towers it gave us a remarkable view of the area. One of our stops was to Max’s conch bar which is a road side bar and was very cool and great people there. Day 2 of the car rental we went to the north end of Long Island and walked up to a monument the that talked about Columbus landing on the north side of Long Island. What a view that was as well. The road getting their was not what we all call a road. But we made it thanks to Skips great driving.On the way we dropped our laundry off to be done which was new to us but would do it again. One of the places that we went to we passed a house that Skip and Carol had met the couple from the states that own it so we had to stop by. After an hour meeting Bernie & Karen and getting a tour of their place. What is interesting is to see how they grow their own produce. It is what is called pot hole gardening. They make a hole in the coral then fill the holes with soil and plant their plants. After seeing them we were off exploring once again. Going about a half mile we went to a vacant home that Carol had been to which gave us beach access where we had lunch. Just down the beach from where we were was the home where Elizabeth Taylor and Senator John Warner got married at. Then on the way back we had to stop at Stella Maris Inn for a bite to eat and a few drinks. Once again we meet a couple from Margareta and their friends from the Island. Penny was a local and loved her wine, Jeannie got along well with her especially she loved her top she had on. It said O to naked in 1 ½ bottles. Penny lives in a home that over looks Thompson Bay and will often hale cruising boats in the bay just to meet them. After we leave Long Island we are not sure what way we will start our journey back to Florida but we will be in the Abaco’s sometime in early April as we have some friends that we are wanting to meet up with that we came down the ICW with last fall. Weather plays an important part in our plans as we have we have learned more about the fronts and when to move and when to sit. We usually try and look out at a 3 day weather window as that gives us enough time to run and hide if we need to. I will say we have been very luck in our weather so far as not have one of those oh god days. One thing we both have learned is not to be in a hurry and there is always tomorrow.
NOTE due to band with we can not download pictures at this time, We will update this part when we have better wifi.

On to Georgetown Exuma

Now that we have finally reached the Exumas it is so different. This is the Bahamas’ mon! After we left the S/W side of Providence Island we headed down the banks of the Exuma islands. Anchoring on the s/w side of New Providence Island was like anchoring on stone. Well limestone more less. It was just the weight of the anchor and 70 ft of chain that held us that first night. But we knew it was going to be no winds so that is why we went there. The water is so dang clear it is scary. We are now sailing in mostly 10 to 15 ft of water all the time or even less. Just like everyone else it was a learning curve for us both sailing in such shallow water. But it is heaven trust me, Standing up on the bow watching starfish and rays go by as we pass over them.
Yes and sharks now and then. Fishing on the banks is not very productive as it is on the ocean side where we usually run the drop offs and that is where the fish are. Our first stop from New Providence Island to the Exumas was Normans Cay. It was our really first time doing what is called VPR. Visual Piloting Rules. Gauging the depth of the water by color. Blue blue sail on thru, Green green mighty lean, Brown brown run aground. The tide is mainly around 2 ½ to 3 ft all up and down the Exuma chain of islands. So running with our friends on Polar Pacer which is a cat and draws 3 feet. We push the limit to where we can get into but only on a rising tide. As some places have a little hole to anchor in but you need to get over a sand bar to get in them. So naturally going into Normans Cay we done just that. We had to back up and turn around a few times as we hit sand. As we were picking our way into the anchorage the clouds would cover the sun and then the whole water would turn black and we could not tell where we were headed by the water color. Only by depth. With my butt pucker up we edged in and then slowed to a stop. Back her up and move over and try again. The good thing is now we have our depth gauge adjusted so we know when we are out of water That is the good thing mostly down here. It is sand. But there are coral heads which appear as a black spots in the water and are very visible. If we are picking our way into a spot we have our head sets on and Jeannie is at the helm and I am on the bow looking where to go as she is reading the depths as we inch in to places. Once we got into Normans we had to go in and have a few beers as they were only $6 each. Drink slow we have learned oh and as for cheap rum, We have not found any yet. It was cheaper in the states as I did not stock up as we had heard it was cheap over here. So the hunt is on for cheap rum. We only stayed one night at Normans Cay as we wanted to get down to Warderick Wells as we had a cold front approaching and was looking for cover. Warderick Wells is a Land and sea Park that is one stop that is a must, We ended up staying 10 days there. It has so much to see and do there and most places you need to stay on a mooring ball which for our boat was $15 a day. One of the things that is a must do for first time cruisers is to go up on Boo Boo hill. It is a place where everyone leaves ta board with there boat name on it and there are piles of boards from the past.
Now if you want to work there and do what ever they have that needs fixing they will comp your mooring ball fee, So for 5 days I worked for $15 a day, yes, $15 day. From 9am to 12 then 1 to 4pm. What I ended up doing with Tom from Polar Pacer was we ended up painting one of their park boats with a 2 part epoxy paint. It was not the best job in my eyes but you have to make do with what you have on hand. Some of the paint I think was like 3 yrs old and we did it on the beach. So there you have it, But they were tickled pink. In that time frame of doing all the work I got the chance to meet and make many new friends that will last a life time. Andrew. Chris and Henry who all work for the park are such great people and what job they have. We have learned how simple it is to live and enjoy life, As I know it is so easy to get caught up in needing STUFF. .We had a few dinners with them up at the ranger station that over looked the park and what a view. As it came time to move on we only went like 15 miles down to Pipe Creek and stayed just off one of the old DECA stations. We had learned that the US had set up these stations for WWII.
It took the place for radar I surmise in intercepting the enemy. Actually there are a few around the Bahamas we have noticed. One of the things we never thought of was how much we use our dingy and the need for fuel, We have a 6 gallon tank for the dink and a extra 2 ½ gallon tank we carry for extra fuel. Ah that is not enough we have found out. So once in Georgetown we will be scoping out a extra 5 gallon jerry can for gas. Only spending one night in Pipe Creek due to low dingy gas we headed off to Big Majors to see the swimming pigs. Yea they come out to greet you when come ashore as they are looking for food that the cruisers leave them. Now these pigs are not small by no means, I would guess 400 or 500 lbs. Not knowing what they would do to you we never got that close to them. But later we learned and watched a tour boat bring in people who swam with them. Well we now know how they make salt pork. Now they are braver then I am. As one cruiser said oh yea you can go up on the beach and pet them. Not this dude no way. The one night we decided to attend an AA (alcohol awareness) meeting on the beach we had the smaller piglets join us just as the sun was setting. Now they were only like 100 lbs but they would keep their distance from us. Not all boats that we have seen in the Exumas are small. One called Mimi came in and spent a few days anchoring amongst the cruisers as well. Listening to Chris Parker on the ssb in the mornings @ 6:30 we learned of a new cold front approaching once again and we figured that with a few good days ahead of us before it comes in we had better leave Big Majors and head for Georgetown as Jeannie has a flight to catch on the 28th to fly back home for a few weeks.
So our stop over to Georgetown was at Cave Cay which is private. Now that it is just Jeannie and I for a while she decided she better learn how to run the dingy. So dingy lesson 101 we had. I will have to say she did better then I had figured. Getting the steering down and learning how the twist throttle works to go fast and slow. So we putted around where we were anchored for a bit going along the shore looking things over. They are still in the process of building a new marina in Cave Cay so we went in there and checked it out. It was not till we came out that she had to make a big turn. Well it all went well till she saw the rock wall and it was like a magnet. Twist the grip full throttle and here comes the dam wall at us faster then I could have jumped out of the dingy to save my life. I actually had to grab the kill switch and give it a yank to stop the motor. Dang almost did us in hun I told Jeannie, She said I am done and no more.

Well you know me, Nope, get back over there and lets do it again. So back to the boat we head as she runs the dink up on plane and back down a few times and doing great. Then once again a big object out in front of her. You guessed it the boat, so what does she do. Twist the throttle to full and freezes as we head right for the side of our boat. Once again I pull the kill switch as I tell her you trying to kill us or what. But it was all in fun an she finally had to laugh. After leaving Cave Cay we headed out to deep water on the sound for a run to Georgetown. A mere 35 miles. Coming into Georgetown one has to do a few zigs and zags getting into the harbor as in spots it is shallow.
Once into the harbor one realizes how big it is as it did not take us long to figure out what is called the Georgetown shuffle. It depends on which way the wind is blowing and how hard to which side you go for protection. Kidd cove is the place that is close to town as that was our first stop fof a few nights. Here in Georgetown Exuma Market provides free R/O water as it is a drive up service and you bring your water jugs and fill them in your dingy and take them back to your boat. At times there is a long line of dinks waiting for water unless your like me and hit it way early in the morning before sun up. We will be here now till the mid February as Jeannie has went home to see our new grandson and family. Then it is our slow trek back north thru the Exumas and onto the Abaco Islands.

Berrys & Andros Islands

Dec 21st
We left Lucaya at 4 am in route to (Berry Islands) Great Harbour Cay ( as they are pronounced key) 54 Nautical Miles. The cold front had finally passed and we had our next window to finally head south a bit further and get away from marina’s. The last one we stayed at was called Sunrise as it use to be Running Mon. Marina. At .65 cents a foot being a boat US member it was hard to beat for a few days. We were at anchor up in the Grand Bahama lagoons with 3 other boats and the police came and rousted us out of there. What we were thinking is that the marina’s are so slow and very few boats in them that they were trying to help them out for business. The trip over to Great Harbor was of little excitement as it was a slow motor sail over. Great Harbour is between Little Stirrup Cay and Great Harbour Cay and both cays are leased by Norwegian Cruise lines. We were anchored on the other side of where the cruise ships were but we could still see the tops of them anchored on the other side. During the day we sat and watched many jet ski’s and kayaker’s tool around the islands.


Dec 22nd
The next day we were off to Devils Cay with the same 4 boats that we were anchored by. This was one of the first days that we have actually sailed. Yes know it is hard to believe and we got our first fish. One of 2 actually along with many hits that we missed. Not like the Great Lakes where I know what most fish are. Here it is OK get the fish book out and try and figure out what the hell we got. Even then we still had not a positive idea. Taking a few pictures of it does help but our friends on Polar Pacer were not sure either. Some of the fish have what is called Ciguatera poisoning which will make you very sick or death even. So we were thinking it was a Crevalle Jack. But not sure we chucked the meat overboard.

Dec 23rd
Devils Cay to Frazer Hog cay. It was almost a repeat day of the 22nd but Randy had come down with a cold that we have both shared now and was very run down but we decided to move further south as we had great sailing weather again. Only thing we did not do was fish as he did not feel like cleaning fish today. The new main sail is finally working great and we notice a big difference. Running a constant 6.5 to 7 knots fully loaded was not to bad we figured. We finally felt yea this is what we came for. Sun great weather and sailing in blue water. This was totally different then when we got beat up coming out of NY along the NJ coast line. It is funny what a few months and few thousand miles under your belt will do. We have learned so much over the last few months and thankful to many cruisers that have guided us and gave us many tips and hints.

Dec 24th thru 28th
We have taken up a mooring ball at Berry Island club for a couple of days as listening to Chris Parker on the ssb in the mornings. We are in for quite a blow as it is predicted that we could have gust up to 50 knt as this will be our first real bad weather that we have encountered. There are 8 mooring balls there and 4 were taken. Xmas eve night a couple of the boats decided to go into Berry Islands club and have a few drinks. Well you know how that goes. We ended up staying around 4 hours as there was a party for a man that was leaving to become a custom officer. So we ended up playing domino's and talking with many of the locals and just having a great time. Xmas day We had a potluck with 3 boats outside the Berry Islands Club with Telisa ( a British boat) Polar Pacer (Canadian Boat) and Mutual Fun. Later Julie (Canadian) came in to join us. This was the first Xmas that Jeannie and I were away from family and it was sure different.

With the cold front upon us all we could do is listen to xm radio and hear how it was impacting the states. We had no wifi and I was dyeing to see how big the cold front was. We knew it was massive as it was affecting people down into the Caribbean as well. The days prior to the storm coming we a few of us dove down to check out the mooring blocks and how well they were. Lucky us they had just put in 8 new 3000lb concrete blocks and new line. But a few of us added an extra line to the block just for more safety encase something broke. The highest we has seen wind wise was just over 40kts. For a few days all we did was just talk and listen on the vhf and ssb radios seeing how others were faring.

Dec 29th thru Jan 2d
The front finally came thru and a high was upon us so off we went to Andros Island. It was a distance of 20.1 nm and it was the first time we had actually sailed off the mooring ball in a long time. We got to sail almost the whole distance to Andros. Which was a welcome change. Before we got out of the shallow water ( 6 to 10 ft) we had to get the fishing lines out and behind the boat. Down here I am learning a whole lot more about how to fish for salt water fish. Like little hook little fish, big hook big fish, Red & Black Wahoo attack, Green Green fishing machine.
So Yea I have been using blue squids and been doing very well on Snapper and Jacks. We had not had the lines in the water more then 10 minutes and fish on. 20 min later a 33 inch Cubera snapper. So we had to call Polar Pacer who was ahead of us just to brag that we had a fish on. Dang he had one as well that they were fighting. So fish it was for the next few nights. As we were arriving to Morgan’s Bluff one of the water tankers that services Nassau was leaving the harbor. Polar pacer had contacted him via vhf radio and as we listened in we heard that he was carrying 3 million gallons of water to Nassau. His turn around time was just over 24 hours there and back. Morgan’s Bluff supplies Nassau with a big percentage of there drinking water as it has one of the biggest natural aquifers around this area as they have been pumping this many and even more gallons for 10’s of years. In Morgan’s Bluff there is a inner harbor that is used by the mail boats and a ferry boat that is on weekly schedule kind of. It is a small well protected harbor where you could ride out anything. As Telisa, Polar Pacer and Mutual Fun coming into the inner harbor.
We all made our way one by one into the inner harbor and eventually ended up rafting 6 boats all med mor style. We found out that the harbor had been dynamited out to be made. Over the next few days we made some new friends with Kevin and Hazel from Australia and Willger from Sarnia Ont There is a local bar right here less then 100 yards from us called Wet Willies and if you like your music loud, this is the place. Telisa only stayed one night as the first night we arrived they were open till around 1 am with the same 20 songs playing over and over. Then one of the night was karaoke night. Not sure which night was the worst of the 2. But they were not driving us away that easy. We ended up splitting the rental on a car for 2 days to see some of the island and doing some laundry and a few other things. Now we are finding out that it is always a new experience here in the Bahamas’ in doing laundry. But we are very grateful for being here and able to experience this lifestyle that many here live. The thing that is very impressive to me is they all seem very happy and friendly. One of the stops we made while having the car was at the Pineville Motel. It had wifi for price, $5 hr or $10 for 3 hours. So we got the 3 hour package Yea I know we did not have any posting ready for our Blog either. Sorry, but we did manage to make a few skype calls and look over our bills and catch up on a few things. We had over 300 emails and no way can we get to them all being on limited wifi. While both of us got caught up on some of our needed wifi we found out that New Years night they had a rake and scrape band playing at the Pineville Motel as Eugene the owner told us he would come and pick us up if we came back that night. So off we went. It was slow night but Eugene is a very enterprising guy. He has owned the Pineville motel just about 8 years and he has done very well with. He does a lot of work with the young kids in the area and the schools and so much more.
He has a petting zoo that is used for the kids as a reward for doing well in school. It is truly something all has to see and experience. In good way to! He has a bar, and serves buggers and dogs as well. He has 8 rooms and each room is done in a different decor . Now remember your in the Bahamas’ mon! The whole place was very clean as we were both impressed as we went the Aussie couple, Kevin and Hazel and Tom and Chris The van that the 6 of us were picked up in has a set of big double speakers up on the roof for a PA system that Eugene of Pineville Motel uses to advertise.
Also it has a large sliding roof that opens. Now add beer and 6 adults and what do you get. On the way back home we were all singing on the PA and someone named Hazel was standing up thru the sliding roof going down the road. One of our other side trips we took was down to Fresh Creek which is on the eastern side of Andros Island.We had thought about sailing there but instead we took the rental car and looked it over. Good thing as there is not a lot of area to anchor and lots of current,6kts
Jan 4th
We are headed to the Exumas now as we are sitting currently on the s/w side of New Providence Island. We will be out of wifi for a while as it is getting hard to find. All is well and the fuel tank is holding up so far. On the way over to New Providence Island Polar Pacer landed a 40 inch Wahoo so we had fish dinner once again last night.Mutual Fun was fish less today. Now we are on the banks and will be in less then 20 ft of water for a few months now as it is very blue and and we are like kids looking all over the place as we cruise.

Andros Island

Just a quick note to let all know that all is ok and we are safe. Wifi is scarce as we have been in the Berry Islands and now in Andros Island. We toured part of the island by car with polar pacer for 2 days. We will be moving to the Exuma islands next week and will be once again out of wifi. The fuel tank is holding up well so far. We have both had colds and sinus issues as the weather here has been allover the place and hopefully will moderate soon. Will psot many pictures and lots of up dating. Fishing has been great also as some of the fish we were not sure what they were.
Randy

Wind , Cold And fuel leak

Ah we are still setting at the Grand Bahama Yacht club as we took a slip for a week and that ends Friday morning. The wind has been howling out of the west NW as it is bringing in much colder air. Woke this morning and it was 51 here and in Lake Worth it was 30. We knew that it was going to be blowing hard for a few days so that is why we stayed here. Our next stop was going to be the Berry Islands but we have a small window once again on Thursday and Friday before the winds come blowing again 30 to 35 kts from the WNW which looking at the Berry Island would not be good were are thinking. We are also waiting on our friends on Polar Pacer to catch up with us as they had some prop trouble and had to turn back when we started to cross last week. The last few days we have been basically hibernating below as it has been to cold to go out and venture. Jeannie is coming down with a cold so she stayed in bed most of the day on Tuesday. So I had planned on doing a few projects as one was moving the fuel vacuum gauge over to the correct side of the fuel line.

Dummy me I had it on the wrong side as it never showed that the fuel filter was plugging up a few weeks ago before the diesel quit on us. So in doing so you know there is always a little diesel spillage when you cut the hose I half and so on right. I had towels all ready and did the cutting of the hoses and replaced the old hose and installed the gauge on the proper line. So in cleaning up I though oh I should look at the bilge and get what water is in there out. As I am one that likes a dry bilge. So I pulled the bilge cover and wholly *#%! There was about 4 gallons of diesel in there. Now I thought oh god now I was not that careless as I try to take pride in what I do. So the process of cleaning it up began. Once I got it all cleaned up, I noticed that a small steady stream was still seeping into the bilge from under the fuel tank. I started thinking oh this is not good, While Jeannie is trying to sleep up in the v berth I am tearing the fuel tank out. I still had around 16 gallons of fuel in it so I had to go and round up some fuel cans from other cruisers her at the marina. Once I got most of the fuel out the removal process began. About 2 hour later I had the tank out and setting on the dock.
What I ended up finding was right on the bottom and in the middle of the tank was a small pin hole. Using a little pig putty and some epoxy on the bottom I got the first pin hole fixed. Then while I had it setting on some wood on the dock testing to to make sure it was sealed. I looked and just to the right there was a 2nd pin hole. Dam! So the process began to fix the 2nd leak. So round number 2 with the pig putty and epoxy. While I am hoping it will get us by till we get home in the spring. One good thing is we have a couple of more days here at the marina before we have to head out. With it all back in each morning now I get up and the first thing I do is to look into the bilge and pray.

Port Lucaya Bahama

Ok we made it but I know a few were worried due to our Spot Location showing it had stopped out about 50 miles east of Lake Worth. Ah it was a malfunction on our part. The crossing was uneventful as we motored all the way over. Just like we wanted it for the first time. We were part of 4 other boats that left Lake Worth around 3 pm and 3 of the 4 were firsts timers. Starting out we had just big rollers and no wind to drive us through them as the sails flogged off and on in the morning and Jeannie did not want me to go forward even though we had jack lines and harness. The most wind we seen was 18 kts on our nose and it was only for a short time. As the wind actually died late in the night. As we approached Freeport I could see quite a lot of traffic on the radar and most were floating freighters waiting to go into Freeport to unload. A few we were unsure of but stayed out of there way. The south side of the Grand Bahama Island is to dang deep for the freighters to anchor so what they do is just drift. Along with the cruise ships that were all lit up like a Xmas tree. Ya can not miss them. We left Lake worth at 3 pm which we could have left like 5 pm actually as we had to slow down when we got closer to Freeport. I did not want to go into Lucaya in the dark and the marina was not open either. The hardest part was trying to stay awake as we both slept in the cockpit on the way over and taking turns at the helm. It was a 18 hr crossing as we had to slow down so that is what took us so much longer.

When we got into port which was at the Grand Bahama Yacht club we were greeted by Thomas the dock Master, Thomas the line handler. Thomas the everything. But he was very nice. By 10 am the 5 boat had filled out all of the custom forms and papers and off we were on a shuttle boat that Thomas ran as he took us over to the Market place where customs was at. There it took the 5 captains of the boats just over 2 hours to check in. It was actually very pleasant. We had originally wanted to go to Green Turtle cay to check in but we heard on the ssb that custom and immigration was only giving 90 day cruising permits. So we changed our minds and went to Lucaya to check in. There we got a 180 day cruising permit. That night the 5 boats all had a rum punch or 2 at the cost of $9 each and some appetizers at the marina bar. Ouch. Oh well. Now that we were free to roam the land Jeannie and I took off and walked to town. One thing we needed to get was a sim card for the cell phone we got off e-bay before we left. Once we got that we then just walked around the Market place here in Lucaya and just looked. So now we are slowwwwing down and relaxing.