2010 Log
4/1 to 4/15/2010
This is the current period of our log for 2010. At the bottom of the page are links to this year's pass weeks; our earlier voyages are in Prior Voyages.
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Updated on 04/20/2010
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4/1/10 - We woke this morning to howling winds and a foot of snow. Wow, April Fools day. Remember the fun we had with that as kids? Ruth maintains I'm still a kid. I finished a couple of small Sunbrella window covers for Miles and re-screened their companionway door. Then I tackled our big project; I took off our Stack-Pac and repaired some worn components. The project was finally done at 4pm. We went by dinghy to sand dollar beach for some exploring. What a beautiful sugar sand beach! We saw starfish, sand dollars and miles of sand. On our way back we stopped at Jubilee to visit Bill and Judy... didn't get home until 8pm. 4/2/10 - I was up at dawn as we were leaving for Long Island, a new destination for us. I played with the Gaviota Bay WiFi, trying to log on to publish. I never got logged on yet about 2/3 of our e-mail magically downloaded - go figure. We left Georgetown about 8:30 and arrived a Thompson Bay Long Island at 3pm. We had delays along the way as Ruth caught two yellow fin jacks (good eating, but we threw them back to get bigger) and a big barracuda that bit off her 100 test line. I caught a little lizard fish and a 4' barracuda that Ruth brought alongside the boat. It bit off the leader while I was trying to gaff it. After a great day sailing we anchored in 10' of water about a mile offshore in Thompson Bay. The water is pretty skinny around here. Miles and Laureen hosted a superb grilled chicken supper with pasta and salad. Suddenly we realized it was 10pm, past our bedtime. 4/3/10 - The trade winds are back. They blew all day yesterday and all night at 10-15 knots from the east... great for wind generation. We went for a walk on Long Island, enjoying lunch at the Sea Breeze Resort, walking over to the ocean side of the island, a picking up a few items in the best store we've seen since Nassau. The beaches here are pink sand, different from the pure white we've seen elsewhere. The ocean side beach was buried in plastic waste. Ruth wanted to go back an clean it up but I convinced her we'd need several dump trucks to cart it all away. The earth is infected with a virus... unfortunately for us its called homo sapiens. Also different is that this is a farming island with real soil. You can see the respect for the land in how folks maintain their community and their homes. Back on the boat we re-rigged all of Ruth's lures with wire leader as the barracuda were too adept at chomping off 80 and 100 test nylon leaders. Not that I suffer the loss of the 'cudas; we're running out of lures. 4/4/10 - Easter morning, another windy beautiful day in the Bahamas. We had a little chop due to our distance offshore. The water is a beautiful light blue. Yesterday as we walked on the island we noticed the clouds had light blue bottoms, the reflection from the water. Ruth and Irise had negotiated a barter... Ruth got one of the bead bracelets Irise makes and Alaeris got some new snaps. I replace the flag halyards with nylon line we purchased in town yesterday. One had failed and the other was badly frayed. 4/5/10 - Long Island Regatta day! Clear, 15-20 knots, great day for the races. We headed in around noon for the 1pm start, Bahaman time that turned out to be 2:30pm. We watched two very close races. It was interesting how the boats would spread out on the course only to cluster at the marks. The boats were well matched. While the boats raced the community partied, as did the cruisers. 4/6/10 - Laureen arranged for the group to rent a van so we toured the southern half of long Island. We started in search of a flock of pink flamingos... we found only their footprints. We had great fish and conch burgers at the Rowdy Boys restaurant/boatyard/resort where we talked to the owner about a class B boat they were building for the up-coming Family Island National Regatta in Georgetown. We visited Dean's blue hole. At 684 feet it is one of the worlds deepest and will be hosting a world's free-diving championship during the next month. 4/7/10 - I was up at 6am ready to hoist anchor. In that Ariel and Alaeris are faster we've found we arrive at the same time if we leave early. Nauti Nauti was leaving about the same time as us taking the shorter shallow route north along the western coast of Long Island. Ruth and I had decided to try that route ourselves. We had 15 knot winds and found ourselves running up the coast at 8 knots over the ground. As the water fell below 9' deep we furled the headsail to slow the boat to 5 knots figuring it would be easier to get off bottom if we grounded slowly. The trip went as planned, 7.9' was the shallowest we saw. Ariel and Alaeris took the deep water route, backtracking to Georgetown then heading east for Conception Cay That put them at the tip of Long Island about 3 hours after us. We spent the time trolling up and down the tip trying to catch fish... got a 2 pounder that proved too boney to fillet. We anchored by Rocky Point in Calabash Bay, electing to continue to Conception tomorrow. Ariel and Alaeris joined us for the night. 4/8/10 - Light puffy clouds framed the sun as it rose; Buddy and I were sharing breakfast. She holds a single corn flake in her claw and carefully eats it in little bites while I eat my bowl of cereal, then she eats her parrot food. It's a morning ritual for her... if I forget she begs with a soft series of hellos. Beautiful beat to Conception. 15-22 knots of wind over the deck drove the boat along at 6.5 to 8 knots over ground. We nailed a big fish about half way to the island. Our lines had wrapped so Ruth thought it was on the starboard pole and started fighting it. I realized the line was screaming off the port pole and fought to increase the drag. The fish jumped once disappearing with the lure and leader - snapped a 100 lb test line. We spent the next 20 minutes untangling the two lines and replacing the lure. At the speed we were traveling it may have been a Wahoo. Nauti Nauti noted that they were the only boat in the NE anchorage last night... tonight there are 17. Heavy traffic! 4/9/10 - What can I say, another beautiful sunny morning. The wind has clocked to the SE and dropped to below 10 knots. Alan and Pat took Miles and I hunting on the eastern reef. The reef was one of the most stunning I've seen, stag horn clumps as big as AA. We saw a wide variety of sea life ranging from little blue neons to a 3' barracuda in 10 to 20 feet of water. My mask strap broke so I had to skip the second dive where they saw a couple of lobster. Back at the boat we watched kids from a couple of boats take turns wake boarding. Ruth particularly enjoyed watching a gal swim with her life jacketed black dog. Alaeris and Nauti Nauti are making plans to head south in advance of the next weather event. Nauti Nauti is leaving this afternoon, Alaeris tomorrow morning planning on arriving 208 miles later with Nauti Nauti at the Turks. We took our dinghies to the mangroves; following the tidal rivers into the center of Conception. We drifted with the current seeing dozens of sea turtles, nurse sharks, lemon sharks, barracuda and long tailed pastel green birds. The fleet in the small anchorage increased to 21 boats and a sundowner party was called for the beach. Ruth and I stayed aboard readying AA for a goodbye dinner for Alex and Irise. Dinner was phenomenal, Miles grilled a pork loin and Ruth did a turkey using Irise's stove-top recipe (we'll use that one again. 4/10/10 - I was up at sunrise. Alex and Irise were readying for departure. As they motored by Buddy whistled goodbye and I waved. They are headed south then west for an eventual arrival in Panama. We'll all miss them... with luck out paths will cross in the future. We departed for Cat Island a few minutes later with Ariel soon behind us. Enroute Ruth hooked a nice sized Albacore... unfortunately it threw the hook while I was trying to gaff it. Darn, fish 2, AA 0. The wind made for a fast trip, 6.5 to 7.5 knots over ground all the way. The last hour we had to motor as our course took us into the eye of the wind. Once anchored we went into "town", a string of small new homes and abandoned shacks along the road. We'll be back on the island over the next couple of days to explore more. 4/11/10 - The sound of a conch blowing brought me on deck. It was Renee trying to get us to turn on our radio. That done I learned she and Ruth had planned a 9am trip to the island... it was 9:15 and Ruth was still sleeping. By 9:30 we were in the dinghy headed for shore. It's Sunday, so we climbed the highest hill in the Bahamas, 206 feet above sea level, to visit the Hermitage. It was the home of father Jerome, a priest that designed and built churches in the Exumas (1876 - 1956). He arrived here in 1908. What looks like a castle from the beach is revealed as a perfectly scaled down monastery when you reach it. The rock structure includes a chapel, sleeping quarters, a separate kitchen structure, narrow passages and short doors. It's a Bahamas historic treasure and is maintained as such. Cat Island has more soil than any we've visited this trip. This is evident in the wildflowers, butterflies, snakes and birds along the roads. On our way back to the beach Renee and Ruth explored the ruins of a Loyalist plantation house. We returned to AA while Miles and Laureen stayed on the island for lunch - learning that the islanders are Dolphin and Lakers fans as well as followers of Brett Favre. Small world. 4/12/10 - Woke to light winds and partial overcast. We went into the village to pick up a few grocery items and dispose of garbage. Then back to the boat to move north along the coast to Fernandez Bay. We had a pair of small dolphins playfully escort us for part of our journey. It was pretty cool as the water was so clear you could see their every move; that and the fact we hardly ever see dolphins down here. Miles and Laureen went in to the resort for lunch while Ruth and I tried to make a WIFI connection to no avail. We later went into the resort and found they were having WIFI problems. Barry to the rescue (actually another cruiser named Barry that was a computer whiz). He went to work and in a couple of hours had the antenna and internet connections to their server up and running. 4/13/10 - We have clear skies, 20 knot winds and WIFI. Better yet, Ruth's at 45 days without a smoke... way to go Ruthie! She did it for Amy, Angie and the grandchildren (and as a birthday gift to me - her idea). WIFI from Island HoppInn at Fernandez Bay Resort has been an iffy arrangement today. Fortunately we got our e-mail learning that the sale of two articles is progressing well. I was able to send and receive data but not to FTP photos to one of the magazines. The wind built during the day and light rain squalls dashed through. We're on the tail of a front passing to the north of us. 4/14/10 - It's Miles' birthday today; speaking of big kids we want to wish grandson Bobby a belated happy birthday - he was 6 on the 9th. The wind buffeted the boat and blew clouds around all night though we had no rain of any consequence. The weather forecast predicts we'll have a couple of days of winds approaching 30 knots. An e-mail from Brad Abbott noted that he, Alice and the twins are enjoying Dominica immensely. They're getting to know the island, it's people and the delicious fruits grown there. No WIFI connection today. It appears that Island HoppInn's server is down. It has to be a real challenge to get good service for high tech equipment here as their is not enough equipment around to support a tech. We joined Miles and Laureen as their guests for an excellent buffet dinner at the Fernandez Bay Village resort. Dinner was steak and lobster with scalloped potatoes, asparagus and all the trimmings. 4/15/10 - Though it threatened to rain all evening we got only a little mist; darn, we could use a good rinsing. Checked for WIFI, still nothing though a new station appeared. We asked at the resort and found they had reconfigured their server and gave us a password. Kewl! The two resorts here are interesting. They serve a specific meal rather than a menu with selections. They have a bar but no bartender, you log in your drinks under your name and settle up before you leave (or the next morning). If you want to bring your own wine to dinner, it's okay. Great folks and good food. Big step forward today, I downloaded a FTP program and got my files off to a magazine for final approval... happy dance. Now the waiting game. We had dinner at the HoppInn last night; Cathy served the four of us an excellent meal. I wanted to patronize her operation as a thank you for providing WIFI and welcoming cruisers. 4/20/10 - The wind increased to 20+ knots and clocked from NW to N during the night turning our anchorage at Bell Island into a washing machine on agitate. Miles sail Renee had to put cushions on the floor and sleep there. I don't think it got as rough as that where we were deeper in the cove. We motor sailed to Warderick Wells, arriving at 11:30a. We were pleased to find that both our boats had been assigned moorings in the North field. As we finished mooring we watch 4 very large rays circle our boat a couple of times before moving on.
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Road to the eastern side of Long Island.
Alex, Irise and Laureen walk the beach
Miles and Ruth with a little evidence of earth's major virus
A pleasanter look at the beach
Class C boats with their long booms stowed
Beating to the weather mark
Dancing downwind
Rail meat
The red arrow on the windshield is a reminder to drive on the left
Dean's blue hole with the free diving raft in place - 684 feet deep.
Alex, Laureen and Irise above the blue hole.
Rowdy Boys latest class B racing boat
Beautiful lines
Rowdy Boys assembling the mast
Long Island watercolors 4/10 Note: Due to lack of WiFi availability I have just added 3/1 to 3/31/10 to history. Much of the material was not published.
Drifting into Conception Island's sea life nursery
Cat Island, small roadside dwelling
Termite housing
Approaching the Hermitage
Miles and Ruth climbing through the stations of the Cross
Ruth seated in the Hermitage bell tower
Island HoppInn, a Fernandez Bay Resort, a tiny piece of paradise
Dining at the HoppInn overlooking Fernandez Bay - phone photo by Miles |
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View our prior 2010 Logs
| Boca Raton, 1/1 to 1/15/10 | Key West, 1/16 to 1/31/10 |
| Miami, 2/1 to 2/15/10 | Miami, 2/16 to 2/28/10 |
| Boca to Exumas, 3/1 to 3/15 | Warderick Wells - Georgetown, 3/16 to 3/31 |
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