Drifting Through Paradise
The Journey Home.....
We left Luperon
yesterday. Today we’re in Provo. The weather system and timing just didn’t
work out.
We are really going to miss cruising with September Song. Little Dylan grows by leaps and bounds each
day. Every day he is more articulate
and fascinating to watch. He learns so
many new things each day. It’s such a
delight to be able to watch him grow and learn. Physically he’s growing too.
September Song has planned to go to Trinidad and then over west to
the Panama Canal and on up to the Sea of Cortez. From there they plan to ship the boat by truck to Seattle. As we all know plans change often, so it
will be fun to watch their progress.
As we pulled up anchor in Luperon, Tom sat in his cockpit watching
with his chin on the lifelines. I hope
we’ll get to see them again before too long.
The crossing was windless, the moon full and the swells comfortable. We’re debating on whether we should head out
tomorrow for the Exumas. A “weak front”
is between us and the Exumas, so we will have to travel through it if we leave
tomorrow. If we wait it out, it might
keep us here the rest of this week.
Decisions, decisions….
April 21, 2000
Galliot Cut, The Bahamas
We are anchored at Galliot Cut in the Exumas. We left Provo Wednesday morning and sailed
straight through to Friday at noon when we put down the hook here. We have never eaten so well as we did on
this passage. We had lunch at noon and
dinner at six. For that matter, we’ve
never kept watches so well either. I
usually got 2+ hours of sleep every 3 to 6 hours. Mitchell didn’t do quite that well but he did sleep more often
then in the past.
On Wednesday we motor-sailed in flat calm seas. On Thursday at 2 am we crossed through the
frontal system. As we got behind it,
the seas got slightly lumpy and we had wind on the nose. By Thursday morning/afternoon we were
sailing with the motor off! We were
averaging 6 knots – climbing at times to 7 knots. Friday came and with it, the wind died and the seas flattened out
to glass. We motored the remaining
miles to Galliot.
We’ve been checking in with Herb the weather guy for the past two
weeks. Everyday at 3:30 boats wanting
weather forecast for their specific area call in on the single side band
radio. Herb then talks to each boat and
tells them what the can expect from the weather for the next few days. From April 9 –16, Herb told us the seas
would be rough and we should wait in Luperon, which we did. Some boats chose not to follow Herb’s advice
– they did not encounter the comfortable conditions that we had. Herb spends 5 hours per day talking to 40 to 80 boats and the radio. He spends another 8 hours putting together
analyses for these boats. He does it
because he likes to. Some people send
him money so he can maintain the ton of equipment he needs to analyze the weather
and then broadcast to everyone all over the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Pacific. Herb is quite a guy!
So we’ve been listening to Herb each day and are able to track the
progress of boats we know. On this
trip, the weather was good for everyone.
So as we traveled north we would pass those boats traveling south. It makes me smile to connect a boat name
that talks to Herb with the actual boat as we pass it. Yes, this was a good passage. We were able to get into shipboard life
quite quickly and easily. Other than
dust and a few mishaps in the galley with eggs and oatmeal, we even managed to
keep Hetty tidy and neat.
Tonight we’re anchored with four other boats. At least two of them have dinghied to the
beach to make a bon fire and hang out.
Mitchell and I joke about how “when we had friends” we did that
too. This is very nearly the first time
we have traveled alone without another boat.
I think that we’re on the tail of the migration north. On Tuesday Luperon cleared out (by Friday,
today, the boats from Rum to Mayaguana have filled Luperon harbor back up).
September Song, Blue Star, Elan, and 12 other boats left Luperon
Tuesday for Samana. Now they are on
their way to Puerto Rico. They should
be anchored by Saturday morning. We
sure do miss them. We’re especially sad
to miss out on Dylan’s growing up. We
can very clearly see how far he’s come physically and emotionally from
Georgetown to Luperon. He’s even
started speaking Spanish. Lola is hola, ados is Adios. He
counts pretty well too - occasionally missing the 4 or the 9. He’s one very smart kid.
Easter Sunday
Staniel Cay, The Bahamas
We’re at Staniel Cay – actually we’re
anchored behind the Thunderball Grotto (that cool cave where they filmed the
007 movie). Sea Treat loaned us that
move to watch and the cave isn’t nearly as big as it looks in the film. Anyway, yesterday looked like a good day to
make 20 miles north so we up anchored and headed out. The winds were 10 to 15 knots when we left but quickly grew to
20+ with higher gusts. Hetty sailed at
an average of 7 knots – sometimes 8!
That’s really fast for us. We
even had a reef in the main. While
getting underway we heard Day by Day call someone on the VHF! Day by Day, Don & Sylvette, were in
Luperon with us. We were going to
travel together but they had engine trouble so they left a day after us. We called them to find out where they were
and where they were going. To our
surprise, they were headed to Staniel too!
What are the odds that without planning, two boats leave on different
days and end up 400+ miles later in the same place.
To further that spine tingling feeling,
we got a call on the SSB radio from Peter and Evelyn on Renegade (we sailed
with them on New Year’s Day on their catamaran here at Staniel). Renegade was head this morning to Staniel too! What are the odds?
Staniel Cay is very quiet and empty
compared to the last time we were here.
Eight boats here in the harbor now when there were more then 20 for New
Year’s.
The wind has subsided and is blowing
from the west. The forecast is for NNE
wind today. So we’ll hang out here for
today and when it goes east (forecast to tomorrow) we’ll go to Norman’s Cay for
cheeseburgers at McDuffs!
Traveling north elicits a contemplative
feeling. It seems like we’ve gone so
far and to so many places these past six months. I don’t feel the same as when I was last here four months
ago. Then was good, now is good, only
different. I think I am more
comfortable now. My footsteps are not
as light as they were. Six months ago
we set out on our first big adventure.
Now we’re coming full circle and talking of our next cruise, and the
cruise after that. We’re in a cycle
now. The saving money, making money
part of the cucle isn’t the most fun part of the cycle. But the knowing what we want to do in our
lives is very gratifying. We’re living
as lily’s in a field and God is very good to us.
April 24, 2000
Staniel Cay
It’s cool to be able to see the bottom
under the boat. The air is still so I
can see individual blades of grass among the sand. I think they’re building a marina next to Club Thunderball. They’re putting in docks over there. There are a lot of birds here. We can hear them chattering away in the
trees.
Yesterday we snorkeled Thunderball
Cave. Peter and Evelyn invited us over
for breakfast and then we all went snorkeling.
The water is sooo much warmer than it was in December. We also got a close up look at a nurse shark
that was sleeping under an outcropping of rocks. We just swam over there and peaked at him – he was four feet
away! With the sun shining through the
holes in the top of the cave the water was beautiful! We brought baggies of cookie crumbs and those fish know about
baggies! I didn’t even get the baggy
open and they swarmed Mitchell and I.
They averaged 4 to 6 inches in size and nipped at us with their fish lips.
Of course I’ve been saving the spinach
pasta shells from the mixed shells I bought in November for Emily the Pig on
Big Major’s Spot. We went over to see
Emily today and this time I was much braver.
We landed the dinghy and I made it all the way to her huge cast iron
bowl before she got to me. And once
she’d honked down the pasta, she just wandered back up to us sniffing us with
her huge pig nose for more goodies.
When she didn’t smell any, she was amiable and just hung out.
Don and Sylvette on Day by Day went
into town with us. They were cleaning
fish at the yacht club so we got to see more nurse sharks and rays. They were after the dorado guts being thrown
into the water.
To top off a wonderful Easter I cooked
ham, mashed potatoes and corn and along with Day by Day we all went over to
Renegade for Easter dinner. It was
really nice.
Today, we think we’re bound for parts
north…
April 25, 2000
Norman’s Cay
We are at Norman’s Cay. We got the hood down around 4:30 and we were
happily munching cheeseburgers by 6:00 at McDuffs.
Mitchell got out his Barker’s Island
Yacht Club burgee and hung it at McDuffs.
The whole ceiling/rafters are covered with burgees from boaters. Someone even hung their bra.
The owners remembered us and asked
about our winter. They are very nice at
McDuffs.
The anchorage at Norman’s is quite
crowded. Eighteen boats are here. The cold fronts are forecasted to march
through here every other day for the next 5 days. We’ll check with Herb and see when he thinks it would be good to
go to Nassau and beyond.
April 28, 2000
Allen’s Cay
We are at Allen’s Cay. Today we are going to Nassau.
Allen’s has iguanas on the beach – and
a lot of seagulls. The seagulls are much
prettier here than in the States. The
gray and white is more distinct and they have lovely red beaks. They beg like dogs, though.
We brought the iguanas some
crackers. They like the crackers but
their eyesight isn’t so good. One
iguana over bit and got my fingers.
Another snuck up on Don and bit him on the toe. We also got a chance to snorkel a bit. And we ran into Getaway from our marina in
Tampa Bay! They pulled in to the
anchorage in the afternoon and we had sundowners on their boat.
April 29, 2000
Nassau
We are being decadent and are staying
at the Nassau Yacht Haven. We washed
the salt off the boat, off ourselves, off our clothes…. It’s really a nice
change.
The city life doesn’t suit us,
though. There’s way too much hustle and
bustle here.
Day by Day had to check in. When Nassau Harbor Control asked them their
last port of call, Sylvette said “Luperon”.
Oops. It cost them $100.
So we’ve reprovisioned a lot, got Hetty
shipshape, and turned on our air conditioning!
Which still works after much neglect this winter. We think that we’re headed for Chub Cay
today. Then we wait out a cold front
before crossing the Gulf Stream. Then
we really will be back in the land of stuff.
Well, my entry as of this morning seems
to have jinxed our passage for today.
That’s the closest I’ve come to naming a destination before we got
there. As soon as we pulled out of the
slip and got fuel, the wind was blowing northwest – right on the nose. We decided – or I should say I decided – to
anchor in Nassau Harbor rather than return to our slip at the Yacht Haven. Actually, my recollection of our
conversation was Mitchell asking “what do you want to do? Stay here or anchor out?” to which I replied
“anchor out”.
The day has been so full of
“adventures” that it would’ve been a good idea to follow Mitchell’s preference
to stay at the marina. In fact, we will
never be anchoring in Nassau again if we can help it. We will be staying at the marina on any future trips.
We went to the fuel dock and promptly
dumped a gallon of diesel into our cockpit rather than the jerry jug we were
trying to fill. Then, once into the
anchorage, we put down the hook and a dead dog floats by. The dog had a cinder block tied around her
neck and she was quite bloated. She was
also floating along with the tide. In
fact, we had to use the boat hook to keep her from bumping into our boat. The horror of the situation aside, Mitchell
remarks “if someone had asked you: Give
me $40 or you will have to push a dead, bloated dog with a cinderblock tied
around it’s neck away from the boat… The answer would be easy: “Here’s $40”. Forty dollars for the Yacht Haven wasn’t sounding so bad, I
guess.
I decided to name her: Flo.
Flo the Dog. Flo T. Dog. I know, it’s in bad taste. When the current changed, after we were
anchored for a second time (I’m coming to that story) we saw Flo coming back
with the tide. This time she was in the
channel area. We kept watching to see
if anyone would take notice – few did.
One guy dinghied over to her, got a good look and took off very quickly.
So as we were recovering from our “Flo
Sighting”, a gigantic freighter began to bear down on us. The freighter got so close, we let out more
anchor rode to back away. Turns out we
were a bit too close to the freighter docks.
Oops. So we had to up anchor,
find a new spot, and re-anchor. We
actually ended up exactly where we were in December.
Yes, we should’ve stayed at the
marina. We won’t make that mistake
again!
We talked with September Song
tonight. They’re in Puerto Rico. They travel 10 or so miles each night along
the coast to avoid the tradewinds.
Tonight they are headed for Ponce.
Last night they heard the Coast Guard Station San Juan talking to a
sailing vessel Hope. Tom couldn’t hear
Hope, he could only hear the Coast Guard.
Seems Hope was taking on water.
I hope that everything is OK.
Tom will do some investigating and keep us up to date on any news.
I don’t know what we’ll be doing
tomorrow. I think we’ll wake up and see
which way the wind is blowing.
May 4, 2000
Rodriguez Key, Florida
We are back in the United States!
A little mangrove island called Rodriguez Key. We stayed at Nassau Yacht Haven through Monday. On Tuesday, we took off for Chub Cay. Tuesday was gray with an overcast sky, the
seas were choppy – both made for a long day.
Wednesday the forecast was for easterly winds through Friday at 15
knots. So we set out across the Great
Bahama Banks. We averaged 6 knots all
day so we made good time getting to South Riding Rock. We even flew the spinnaker for a while. We talked with Herb as we were passing South
Riding Rock and Herb strongly suggested that we not cross the stream as the
winds were too strong and the seas lumpy.
He said we should wait at least 24 hours before crossing. Only problem is that there was no place to
anchor to wait – South Riding Rock offered little protection. So we bit the bullet and kept on going.
Herb was right – we should’ve stayed
put. When we got halfway across the
seas were running 8 to 10+ feet. The
wind wasn’t too strong but it was a bash with the lump seas. The waves and current sucked a lot of our
progress away. The speedo registered
speeds of 6 to 7 knots over the water but the GPS only showed 2.5 to 3 over the
bottom. How depressing! Day by Day bailed out at 6am and headed
northwest to make it easier for them.
We decided against that because we would only have to make up the
southing later on. It turned out to be
six of one, half dozen of the other. We
maintained a decent course but ended up at Rodriguez Key a little bit later
than Day by Day. Normally we were a bit
behind them anyway so it all came out about even.
We didn’t get a lot of sleep last night
so it’s nice to have the hook down.
Tomorrow – maybe Marathon….
May 6, 2000
Boot Key Harbor, Marathon, Florida
Marathon, Florida! It feels to Mitchell as if we were just
here. It feels to me as if we were here
in another lifetime.
We sailed the Hawk Channel
yesterday. A few crab pots, yet it’s
very wide and the average depth is 25’ – so no problems there. The wind was at our backs making for a very
pleasant sail.
We dinghied ashore last night to call
Customs and go to Publix. Publix has a
scale so we weighed ourselves. I was
very pleased to see that I’ve lost 6 to 8 stubborn pounds. I hope that I can manage to keep them off.
I couldn’t suppress the sill smile on
my face as I shopped. So much
stuff! Prices so cheap! They had at least 15 feet of space dedicated
to frozen pizza! So many choices! I had to ask a grocer which aisle I might
find the pizza in. He turned to his
colleague and in Spanish said “how do you say aisle 13”. So I got a chance to say “Diez y tres,
Gracias”. It surprised him. I’m excited to take up Spanish lesson and
Lord knows that I won’t have trouble finding people to practice with.
Mushrooms, 2 cans for a dollar! They haven’t been that cheap anywhere. In the three countries we visited, we have
found products that were made in the U.S. yet not sold in the U.S. Cereal, canned vegetables, etc. So it was odd to notice that Publix
mushrooms are from Mexico. Weird, huh?
Mitchell had no problems clearing in and I had very much fun shopping
at Publix. I can’t specifically say why
I see everything a bit differently, it must be our experiences these past 6
months – they’ve colored the way I see things.
People here have so much! And
absolutely everything is available at all hours of each day.
I just saw a fishing boat go by.
On the main steering seat sat the cutest puppy. I also noticed that the driver had his hand
on the puppy’s back to ensure that he didn’t fall off. Puppies are thought of so differently here
(at least among the more intelligent U.S. citizens). The Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, and the D.R. citizens don’t
coddle their animals.
The beauty of this lifestyle is the
huge variety a person is able to experience.
In my opinion no one place fulfills it all. The crystal clear water, beautiful reefs and coral, simple
Christian lifestyle all makes the Bahamas wonderful. The arid landscape, Hey Jose’s Mexican restaurant, wonderful,
friendly people makes the Turks & Caicos unique. The beautiful, breath taking mountains, wonderful people and
their lifestyle, wonderful climate all endears us to Luperon. And, of course, the U.S. with all that
stuff, ease of movement, free speech, is all incomparable. Of course after all the variety there is
something very special about being able to go home to Hetty every night.
I must mention that Mitchell is
changing our oil. He’s a true cruiser,
always aware of our limited resources.
He’s concluded that it’s unnecessary to wear clothes while changing the
oil. He’s very smart since laundry is
not always available and is usually expensive.
In addition to the logical, I like it because he’s a very handsome man
(typists note: No, I did not add that
last line – it was there and I can prove it).
From Mitch: Well, that’s all she wrote – literally. We had a great sail up from Marathon to Tampa, running through
one storm system but otherwise fairly decent sailing conditions. Getting back to the marina was surreal, to
put it blandly. We docked only a few
feet away from the slip that we had left 6 months prior. As of January 1, 2001, I’m still not
adjusted to being here at the dock.
Fortunately it’s time to get Hetty ready for our next adventure…..