Nassau

After reading the guidebook carefully and because we were worried about a cold front that was looming in the horizon we changed our plans and decided to come to Nassau and travel to the Exumas from here. Everywhere south of Spanish Wells in the Eleutheras was described as not cruiser friendly, either the holding was poor in the anchorage, or it was not protected so we decided after a lot of debating to sail into Nassau. It was a good crossing, the first calm ocean passage of the trip, but we made it just in time with rain pouring in as we sailed into the harbor. Nassau is always interesting, the anchorage is crowded and there is always a lot of traffic so you rock all the time but the weather is more settled today so we'll go across to the Atlantis to look at the aquarium and then tomorrow we head to the Exumas. My other computer died so I am here trying to get organized with this one, no more slide shows for the time being.

Serious Paradise

Guidebooks can be very deceiving, they talk about pristine beaches, pink sands, turquoise waters, "picturesque" towns and you end up looking at shacks by the water. Harbour Island on North Eleuthera however has outdone all our expectations. The town is indeed picturesque and full of character and the beach is UNBELIEVABLE!!! If you ever have money to spare and maybe a long weekend the Pink Sands resort in Harbour Island is the best investment. We went with two other couples in the high speed ferry that comes from Nassau and spent the day there: walked around town, had drinks at 11 am on the terrace of the Pink Sands, overlooking the sea and pretending we were staying there (we figured if we got a room we could have two hours per couple like the watches on the boat during overnights that's all we could afford). Then we walked on the beach and had lunch at a lovely place on the other side of the island overlooking the sound. On the way back we hired a water taxi.

Unfortunately the only internet connection here in Spanish Wells where we are, is my blackberry so I cannot post photos but I will as soon as I can. Tomorrow morning we leave for Hatchet Bay. Judging from what the guide says I doubt we'll have internet but we' ll see.

Apparently the weather is going to turn on the next few days, especially Thursday, if anybody finds any information we would appreciate it!

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Wonderful Royal Island

The weather is wonderful, we are in a secluded anchorage with five other boats and the snorkeling on the reefs on the north side of the island is spectacular. The night before last, we got together with the other cruisers aboard a Catamaran and decided to go snorkeling together, which is always better, the reefs are a mile or so out and the more we are the safer. We are always looking out for each other. We spent over two hours in the water which was absolutely transparent. At night we got together again and sang our hearts out. We even managed to stay awake until 10:30! Quite a feat. Today we will go snorkelling again and in the afternoon we'll head off for Spanish Wells where we will probably stay a couple of days. We need to get rid of our trash, get water, diesel and prepare for the next leg to the Exumas. Hopefully we'll also have internet.
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Redefining "doable"

When talking about the ocean passages we often heard them called doable by cruisers who obviously didn't want to say they did it but they wish they hadn't. Today was doable. We left with ten or twelve other boats who were anchored off Lanyard Cay ready to cross the cut in Little Harbor. This morning since 6:30 there was a lot of traffic on the radio, people exchanging weather information, because as always it was blowing much harder than what been forecast. In the end after many doubts and discussion we weighed anchor and left. All the boats left. When asked by the cruiser's net about the conditions on the passage one of the boats said doable. Yeah, right. It was very, very rough. Marcos was right on the button. 8 to 11 feet rollers from the side. Barfy, idettes ginger cookies came back to haunt her. Twice.
But after seven and a half hours of suffering (though four hours into the trip the waves came down a bit: seven to nine) we are back in parqadise: Royal Isalnd in the Eleutheras. No internet just the blackberry. So sorry for the typos its hard in this little keyboard!!!
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Aborted departure

We left Man o War calmly, headed south to Tiloo Cay when ten minutes into the trip, Sweet Tides called us to tell us they were burping the stuffing box yet again. A few minutes later they called again to say they had A LOT of water coming into the boat. So much that Mike asked us to call Tow Boat US, I did but they did not answer. Idette drove the boat while Mike tried to stop the water, getting all scratched in the process and bleeding all over the shaft. They had to stop the engine, open a sail and slowly make their way to Marsh Harbor. Juan remembered that Tow Boat US had told us - when they thought we had a problem in our stuffing box, to put a plastic bag around it with duck tape to hold the water. Mike did that and it helped. Water started trickling instead of pouring. Luckily Man o War is only an hour away from Marsh Harbor and the wind helped so jiving and jiving they made it to Marsh Harbor. Once inside they turned on the engine and tied in Harbor View Marina, again...
A mechanic from a boat yard on the other side of the island came over and apparently fixed the problem. The shaft had moved so no amount of burping would fix it. We will see tomorrow whether in fact it's fixed: see to believe. So no plans until we know. Juan is saying that cruising is stressing him too much, this is the last time we are doing this. Again, see to believe...
The mechanic's helper talked to Idette while the other guy was doing the work and told her the Abacos are infested with sharks!! and that his father had almost lost his leg to a barracuda!! I am glad we did not have the courage to make it to the mooring balls in Fowl Cay.

What a difference the sun makes!

Sunshine and calm winds made all the difference in the world. We explored the island on foot, dinghied from one end to the other and dinghied all the way to the Fowl Cays. We did not dare go out all the way to the mooring balls because it was very low tide and the only passage through the reef was through the inlet into the ocean which was rough or all the way to the other end, which would have meant at least two more miles. But we landed on the deserted cays, walked on the beach and saw hundreds of hermit crabs.
Today we are leaving Man o War. Pretty but a bit weird. The local population seem to be all members of the same family. All businesses belong to some Albury, Tom or Peter or Steven... This morning at 7 the ferry brought in Bahamian workers who leave the island at 4, none of them live on the island.

Man'o war Cay

Finally we managed to uproot ourselves from Marsh Harbor. The wind is still blowing over 20 knots but yesterday afternoon we left the marina and anchored in the harbor. Sweet Tides decided to stay one more night in the marina charging their batteries. Only last night there was a power outage in town and they did not notice their charger had stopped charging. Today we were all set to leave at two from Marsh Harbor when they realized their batteries were down to sixty four percent. So they stayed an extra half hour charging their batteries and we left at two forty five. Just so we could add some excitement to the blog their stuffing box needed burping, big time burping because a lot of water was coming in, but after some TLC it stopped and we managed to make it to Man'o war, barely. The entrance was really, really narrow and shallow, but once inside it is very protected. We grabbed some mooring balls and went for a walk in town where we took the pictures in the slideshow. Then we we came back, got our dinner ready and had another gourmet feast aboard Sweet Tides.
Tomorrow we will spend the day walking around the island, it is really very pretty, and then we will sail to Tiloo Cut and Little Harbor to get ready to make the passage to Eleuthera on Thursday when the winds and waves will hopefully be much better.

Man'o war Cay

Finally we managed to uproot ourselves from Marsh Harbor. The wind is still blowing over 20 knots but yesterday afternoon we left the marina and anchored in the harbor. Sweet Tides decided to stay one more night in the marina charging their batteries. Only last night there was a power outage in town and they did not notice their charger had stopped charging. Today we were all set to leave at two from Marsh Harbor when they realized their batteries were down to sixty four percent. So they stayed an extra half hour charging their batteries and we left at two forty five. Just to we could add some excitement to the blog their stuffing box needed burping, big time burping because a lot of water was coming in, but after some TLC it stopped and we managed to make it to Man'o war, barely. The entrance was really, really narrow and shallow, but once inside it is very protected. We grabbed some mooring balls and went for a walk in town where we took the pictures in the slideshow. Then we we came back, got our dinner ready and had another gourmet feast aboard Sweet Tides.
Tomorrow we will spend the day walking around the island, it is really very pretty, and then we will sail to Tiloo Cut and Little Harbor to get ready to make the passage to Eleuthera on Thursday when the winds and waves will hopefully be much better.

Still put in Marsh Harbor

The wind continued to blow hard today but luckily it has been veering and now the waves stopped knocking on our bedroom wall. Last night we slept in the front cabin but the noise of the lines kept waking Juan up, so he kept going out to ease the pressure. Mike and Idette had the same problem. With the wind change we managed a great nap. Maybe, just maybe we might be able to leave the marina tomorrow and start crawling out. Maybe to Man'o war Cay and then Little Harbor to wait for weather to cross to Eleuthera. It's an almost 60 mile stretch of open ocean so we have to make sure the weather helps.
In the meantime we walk to town. I have been in more hardware stores in a few days than in my whole life, and the worst is that given the lack of options I even relish it!! (well, not quite). In the evening we continue having wonderful meals. Since we slept in the afternoon we might even make it through a movie. Our last movie viewing experience was not too successful. It was the Sound of Music, with commercials. Juan went to bed halfway through, but he has seen it many, many times: my children and I love it. Mike said he had only seen it once when it first came out in the theater and dared claim it was corny! He did not see it this time either because he slept through it and only woke up during commercials to continue claiming it was corny!! (You know now what DVD he needs to get as a present) Idette and I saw it through. Idette hadn't seen it for a long time, but I even know the script by heart! - but with the commercials it went on forever, only for hardcore fans.

Revisionist History and Junkanoo

Come New Year and it seems nobody was sleeping through midnight but me! I heard the band play Auld Lang Syne when I was already in bed and remember nothing else, but all blog readers will be witnesses to the fact that at 11 pm I was awake writing. Juan says he woke up at 12:20, and Idette and Mike say they woke up at 11:58 and watched the revelers in the bar through the binoculars. I just record what they say, I cannot attest to anything but snoring. 

On the 1st however we made up for not popping the champagne to see the old year off, by celebrating the new with mimosas and a wonderful breakfast. Then we went off to Green Turtle Cay to see their Carnival which takes place on New Year and is called Junkanoo. We went in a bus rented by the cruisers in the marina and then took the ferry. The parking lot where we left the bus was packed. The Junkanoo is popular with the Bahamians themselves. There were food stands in the streets and after the carnival parade was over we went for a walk on the island and people watched. 

The forecast was for the weather to turn last night and it did, it started blowing really hard and it was hard to sleep with with the water hitting the hull. It blew the whole day today and is likely to continue tomorrow. The boat rocks and heels and it has cooled considerably. Not fun. Hopefully it will be over in a couple of days. In the meantime we continue to do things around the boat and add lines to make sure we don't take off like Peter Pan's boat and end up in Neverland!