A windy, grey cloudy afternoon/evening led to homemade pizzas & “movie night” with Sound of Music and eating hot brownies straight out of the oven. Perfection!  We all love that movie so much…biggest smiles while headed off to bed. Good family night.

We needed that good ending as we had a lumpy start to the day…. less sleep last night in 25knots of wind against the current in Allen’s Cay and bouncing the boat around like we were sailing.  UGH. Somehow Henry slept through it all but Mike and I were up a lot.

It was uncomfortable enough in the anchorage in the morning with high winds expected all day and night that we picked up anchor and had a brisk sail in 20-25 knots of wind for 2hrs down to Norman’s Cay and anchored on the west side beach near McDuff’s.  With reefed sails the boat consistently sailed over 6 knots, briefly hitting 7.9 knots without complaining.  The prop-shaft generator was making electricity from the wind for the first time in a while too.  It was an act in endurance for the kids, not feeling well on a bumpy, heeled-over boat.  Amazing how kicked up the waves were even while we were sailing in the lee of the islands. 

It felt cold in the wind (despite being 78F) so we opted for a walk on the island and a pass on swimming.  Norman’s southern end is undergoing a HUGE development after being bought by a group of investors 4 yrs ago.  They have turned a little pond in the middle into a huge marina and cut through the island in 2 spots to create a dredged channel for boats to get into the marina.  They plan on 72 boat slips making it the 2^nd largest in the Bahamas.  This is huge change for Normans.  We got to walk all through it.  It’s super fancy with expensive  walkways, impressive landscaping.  We got to see the first model home (see photo with deck chair and beach view) – for only $1.5million the 1 bedroom house could be yours!  They expect the marina rates to be $12-$15 per foot per night (to put it in perspective – we look for marinas that are <$2/foot!).  Amel is 39 feet – scary math.  The rain clouds missed us on our walk and we came back with yet even more fresh coconuts to husk.  Mike and Henry have some work ahead of them.

Tomorrow we plan to move a short way to anchor in the cut at Norman, weather dependent.  Monday’s forecast is for super calm – a great day to explore sand bars and snorkel underwater plane wrecks at low tide.

Fingers crossed we can get enough data connection to stay in touch!

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Hi,
It’s been a long few days but we are now at anchor on the northern end of the Exumas off the West side of Allen’s Cay.  We were all happy to get out of Nassau harbour and the marina though the exit from the harbour involves 1.5hrs of motoring through “washing machine” waters….all churned up and confused seas mixed up with the wake from fast motor boats….. =  sick kids!  Emma went down first, then Henry.  It was pretty mixed up waters.  It was a 6hr sail in total…they were doing better the second half and both had naps that helped too.  Everyone happy and HUNGRY for dinner after seeing the Iguana’s on the beach and their first swim.  Jumping off the boat was fun – there was even a stingray to see that was hanging out under the boat.
All ready for a good night sleep.  Anchorage a little “lumpy” (some swell wraps around the top of the island)….but we plan to sail further south tomorrow for better spot.  Happy to be in clear waters.
Let the vacation begin!Tina.

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So – the big decision was that song: “do we stay or do we go now?” and……  we  – decided – to – go – nowhere!  Well, to be truthful, last night we actually did decide to go to Rock Sound – a 35mile (approx. 7 hr) journey south….but when we got up at 6am there was no wind….almost zero….and forecast changed overnight to be lighter during the day …and not having any anchorage closer that would provide protection from NW winds (a problem when sailing long skinny islands with few harbors).  So, with a sigh, we stayed put.  Another early morning wakeup alarm for no reason.

Of course by midday the winds were kicking up and far exceeded the forecast…so in the end we would have been fine!  Oh well.

We made the best of it. We had a good day of school work, 45min walk to a beach on Atlantic ocean side – wild and untamed and no one there but us. Tina returned early to get more laptop work done for the afternoon.   Late afternoon the kids had fun jumping off the trapeze on Bliss and swimming in cold water with a cold wind.  It was long sleeves and pants to warm up afterwards.  We can’t complain much about 70F…. Most of the US woke up cold too, and even most of South Florida was in the 40’s this morning.

The day finished with a super tasty farewell dinner onboard Bliss, then off to bed early.

No Matter What.  We Are Picking Up the Anchor Tomorrow!!!!!  Exumas I believe is the destination…..only time will tell where we drop it at the end of the day! 

More tomorrow!

PS. Photo captions

       – included a few of the streets of Alice Town. Some nice well kept buildings, and some rundown remnants too.  The pink building is the administrative town building (police, post office, etc).

      –  Mike and Henry had a hankering for ice cream – so at 10am they bought a tub of chocolate ice cream with 2 spoons and went to town!!  Emma had a freezie and Tina enjoyed the view!   Good thing we had the long walk to use up those calories!

     –   Our 1.5mile walk to the beach took us into nowhere land past the cell tower, the electric plant, and apparently the random dump spots that are then burned.

  – Mike took his stunt kite the beach – I think it’s the first time the kids have used it by themselves!

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We woke this morning to zero wind. Almost unheard of.  The water was like glass.  All the boats had a full reflection in the water.  There were clouds, sunrise colour, fog hovering in the trees on shore.  We could look down at the bottom as clear as if there was no water at all.  Perfect for sunrise paddle board.  This harbor has some amazing upside down jellyfish.  They sit on the bottom and the way their tentacles lay it looks like a beautiful flower.  To see them floating they have lovely designs on their top – it’s mesmerizing to watch them.

The clouds brought an early rain storm which was perfect for hot tea and yummy pancakes for a lazy morning.

Rest of the day was chores – oil change in engine, some laptop work for Tina , discovering our 2^nd anchor at the bottom of a deep lazarette (we will need it in coming anchorages in Exumas).  Kids loved to help both up on deck and by crawling into chain locker accessed at the foot of our bed.  Tested out the GoSun (solar oven) for a 3^rd time – today with corn bread.  It was delicious.  25mins and it was a perfect afternoon snack using no propane and more importantly not heating up the boat!  A surprise reunion with Bliss late afternoon was fun then quiet dinner and kids off to bed on time.

Decisions decisions for us.  Still undecided about tomorrow.  Definitely leaving.  A little anxious about how to far to commit to with engine not yet fully “tested” as well as dealing with winds and ensuring good anchorage at the end of a long day of sailing.  You’ll have to wait for tomorrow’s update to see where we decide to go!

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A pretty successful day overall.  Engine part arrived on the plane.  Customs released it to Mike without gouging his wallet too badly… just the 12% VAT tax.  Thanks again for the package transfer Aaron!! Mike was back on the boat by 12:30 so then had all afternoon to extract the old pump and install the refurbished one.   At 3:08pm Mike had the engine running again!  Leak stopped??? We don’t know yet.  Time will tell.  By 4pm we were off the boat headed to a party on shore…but that’s another story!

This morning, Tina and kids dropped Mike of on land to hitch hike to the North Eleuthera airport.  We were playing in an area nearby and could see Mike one minute….then 5 min later he was gone.  Success!  So we wandered around town, found a local playground to play in, did a little shopping and headed back to boat.  Henry was great, and in Mike’s absence he took over full control of the dinghy – holding it for the ladies to get in, pulling in the stern anchor and navigating us back and forth.  He tied the dinghy off and made sure it was safe.  He really stepped up to the plate!

Mike’s story is that a fella named Mark picked him up and, as it turns out, Mark had an errand right near the airport.  So he took Mike to the airport first and waited while Mike did his work with customs, then they went and did Mark’s errand together…and then Mark drove Mike all the way back to Alice town in Hatchet Bay and brought him right down to the dinghy dock too!  Mark owns a trucking business back in Williamsport Pennsylvania and he and his wife vacation in the Bahamas at their house near Hatchet Bay.  He also invited our family up to his house for cocktail hour.  They were having neighbours over and we were welcome to join.  He even came down at 4:30 to drive us to/from his house.  Such incredibly warm hospitality.   While Mark and his wife are not boating people, they appreciated some of the hardships having lived a life of diesel engines and sleeping in truck cabs, and knowing that Mike had been in the engine bay all afternoon they also offered Mike hot water showers!!!!!!  A luxury.  They had a very cute house with an amazing porch with views of ocean and sunset.

It was a lovely evening, new people to meet, they were all land owners on Eleuthera, and one native of Eleuthera.  Interesting stories – one couple runs the Dolphin marina in Maine, another couple lived on a sailboat for years and kept their boat in Indiantown, FL too….AND they are from Kingston, ON (where Tina went to Queen’s University).

No idea what our plans are for tomorrow…. engine review, check the weather, put a plan together…..

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So….change of plans.  Looks like we are staying in Hatchet Bay longer due to engine troubles again.

Last night after dinner, very late, after finishing with all the crab mess, computer work, IRS forms complete, urgent internet todo (since we thought we were loosing internet) then got the boat ready for big passage today, Mike then did the engine checks at 11pm….and found a LOT of diesel fuel had leaked into engine oil…even while we were just sitting not even using the engine at all.  Mike has been closely monitoring it since we left FL and while there was still a leak he was managing it.  This was a significant change though from last 2 weeks.  The pump and injectors that Mike fixed in Florida did not entirely fix the problem.  We need that high pressure pump that we dropped off in Fort Lauderdale to be rebuilt right before our gulf stream crossing (which is done, paid for…but in Florida).

So we set alarms for 6am this morning (After going to bed after midnight and had Henry up at 2am with us) and the wind was very light (forecast change)….not enough to get us to Exumas…and not wanting to use the engine at all…..we decided the more prudent thing to do was to stay put and not leave today.

Mike worked all morning to try and get that refit pump that we left at the shop in Fort Lauderdale…onto a plane tomorrow to north Eleuthera.  They only fly once a week and we got lucky the flight is tomorrow.  Mike’s friend Aaron Mullins saved the day AGAIN to get the part from the shop to the executive airport, while mike was on lots of calls and worked on all the paperwork.

We were all tired, and discouraged and second guessing all our decisions.  Mike spent the rest of the morning removing and checking every injector on the engine – thank goodness they are all still good.  Only Henry had energy as he slept in till 9:20am!!! Totally won the “sleeping award” that we joke about. Kids got some of their Christmas thank you cards written and then we got in a snorkel trip midday.  Got to have some good phone calls with family.  Bliss did end up leaving today but just went a few hours away and we hope to meet up again later this week.

Mike and kids got a conch horn made – a must have on every sailboat.  Traditionally people blow the conch horn at sunset each night.  The technique is similar to blowing a trumpet.  Emma got it very quickly – I was impressed and she was very proud of herself! We enjoyed an early, quiet family dinner in cockpit trying to keep Emma awake past 5:30pm to keep chewing! A big change from last few nights of late nights partying it up with Bliss family.

Tomorrow – fingers crossed – by midday Mike will meet the plane (30km away) and get the engine part cleared from customs. Then I guess that makes Wednesday a boat engine work day for Mike.

Will take each day as it comes. Tonight it’s early to bed for everyone.

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The Dads and the Kids had a very successful 3 hr snorkel trip coming home with 9…yes count ‘em….9 CRABS! And 2 mackerel for dinner tonight.  Huge smiles all round and 4 children talking nonstop to tell the stories! Fan corals, huge schools of fish, more neat caves to explore by dinghy this time.

Darlynne (mom on Bliss) got a peaceful afternoon to enjoy on the SUP and Tina…well Tina got quality time with the laptop and IRS forms.  It’s crazy how life on a boat should be peaceful…but when you combine weather, anchorages, wind direction….and then add to it cell tower requirements to get work done…the stress sneaks it’s way into paradise.  Monday, the weather is perfect to head to the exumas, which is the most amazing stretch of gorgeous amazing islands that we want to get to…..but has very few cell towers which severely limits access to internet or phones.  I have a big IRS Jan 15^th deadline….which means I needed to try and get everything done….today.  It was amazing to have peace and quiet on the boat to myself – my productivity doubled compared to when H&E are milling around!

Now off to eat some crabs!

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Today was a ‘school field trip’ day, with Emmett as the bus driver.  He’s the nice guy in town who’s laundry business we used yesterday, and today we hired him as a shuttle driver to get us a few miles up the road to a cool, huge cave to explore.  Tina stayed on the boat for some much needed peace and quiet to work through IRS forms, taxes and quarterly payroll while the other 7 took off for an adventure.  The cave was (almost) all natural and just 100ft off the road.  It opened down some stairsteps into huge cavernous ‘rooms’ and tunnels with stalactites and stalagmites.  There were also signatures from visitors 130 years ago that came from as far away as Virginia and Maine. The cave went far enough back into the island as to be 100% dark when everyone turned their flashlights off – and then we found the second entrance with a rope ladder up a small shaft and out in to the forest.

After the caves, Emmett had recommended to go snorkel in the little lake (salt pond) down the path from the cave.  It was the most amazing place.  So many seahorses everywhere!  If you were still they would curl their tails around your finger.  Way cool.  There were lots of brittle stars (small long-legged starfish) moving quickly on the bottom.  It was like a time-warp version of reef snorkeling – likely caused by fewer than the normal number of ocean predators.  So amazing to find this place from a local…it’s easy to see on satellite images but the idea of snorkeling there is not on any tourist map that we’ve seen!

We rafted up the 2 boats for another dinner together… we had just gotten the grill going when the front arrived, drizzle and rain began, winds clocked 90 degrees or more, boats threatening to wrap around each other’s anchors….time to end the raft up…in the rain…with the engine on…with the grill going….mike starts scrubbing the decks (cause that’s what you do on a boat when it rains and both you and the boat need a bath)…while flipping burgers (in the heaviest downpour)…while also collecting fresh water from the decks.  It was quite an eventful 30mins of multitasking.  Then the rain passed, there was never any wind, the boats settled out and we enjoyed a lovely dinner of our burgers in Bliss’s cockpit.  Another fun day with new friends!

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Today was a to-do list day.  It was time for laundry and we were down to ¾ tank of water.  This town had free RO water (reverse osmosis) not far from the local dock, and the neighbor boat had 5-gallon jerry jugs we could borrow – a good time to fill back up!  We took ~40 gallons in 2 trips and Bliss took many more trips with kids helping use lines to hoist jugs onto the deck.

We ended up using Emmett’s laundry, a local who’s building up an offering of boat services at his dock.  But before that, Tina got two rounds done in a 5 gal bucket with  a toilet plunger near the spigot where we were schlepping water from, laundry which we then finished by hanging out to dry on the boat.  At first it seemed easier than schlepping water all the way to the boat, but then Tina had half the town walking by, or stopping to saying hello, plus most of the kids introducing themselves.  The local kids were talking a mile a minute and, like our kids, found ways to fight over who got to “help” do the laundry.  In the end, the locals decided that no “white woman” should have to do laundry in this manner… nor “have to listen to a black kids problems” and we ended up being directed to the very reasonably priced usage of Emmett’s porch-mounted washers and dryers.  It was a good way to help support the local economy a bit, though observing the race related dynamic that started it was a bit odd and unexpected.

While chores were going on, the boat kids played. All. Day.  They swam like fish from floaty to floaty and very much enjoyed being the 4 musketeers.  No change there!

This week is electronics failure week.  Our new waterproof camera proved to be leaky – despite being properly closed it let bubbles out and salt water in at 2 feet, though was rated to 60 feet.  Design flaw? GoPro backup will suffice!  Tina’s laptop also croaked…partly… with the keyboard and trackpad kicking the bucket for no apparent reason.  No Apple Store on Eleuthera just yet.  Luckily we have a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse with us… but working through all that cancelled her much needed work day.  Maybe tomorrow some work will get done?  Island time schedules and breakdowns & US work schedules are NOT compatible.

They day ended well… we rafted up with Bliss for dinner (tied the two boats together while anchored) and then the big kids and dads went snorkeling.  Henry and Celeste were champs, completely unphased by the quite choppy water just outside the bay, both diving down deep in the hunt for lobster.  This was a spearfishing trip that was delayed by chores and happened quite close to sunset but it still yielded dinner.  Mike spied a large spider crab and Harry speared it… first just the claw, then a second spear shot to get the rest of the crab and its second claw.  We all got to try a bit after boiling it up on the stove.  Farm to table, Bahamas style.

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We dropped the hook at 5:20pm tonight just moments before the sun set.  The kids (and parents) were thrilled to be anchored next to Bliss again!  What a reunion it was – you would never believe we had only spent a mere 4 days with this family right before Christmas.  It was like they were long lost family.  Our kids were jumping on the deck and waving.  Harry (the dad) jumped right in the water to help set out anchor in tough grass, the cheers and arm waving in response from their kids was heartwarming.   

It was not our plan to move so far today, but after a very rolly night last night…we were ready for a better place to settle.  That piggy beach off the backside of Meeks Patch provided wind protection but the swell wrapped around the ends of the island and had us moving all night long.  We picked up anchor at 8am and had a lovely peaceful sail ….went 4 knots with only 7 or 8 knots of wind – way to go Amel!   We anchored on the north side of Current Cut by midmorning.  We had to time our passage through this cut with the tides due to strong currents in the channel.  That gave us time to drop the dinghy and do a drift dive through the cut.  It was impressive how quickly the current pulled us through.  We saw the BIGGEST turtle ever and lots of fish 2-3 ft long.

It was a spectacular blue sky hot sunny day.  We warmed up in the sun on deck after our drift dive and just hung out till about 2pm.  Emma decided to climb up the mast and loved it (harnessed, with Mike pulling).   About 1hr after the local tides had changed and the current had slowed enough that we could motor through it.  Dicey navigation on the other side, with only 3 feet of water under the keel – though never comforting, this is quite normal in the Bahamas.  We were happy to be out on the calm shallow banks for the rest of the 3hr motor to Hatchett Bay, Eleuthera.   Neko (the autopilot) did a fine job while Tina worked on laptop, Mike documented Amel’s solar installation while at the helm and kids got to watch a movie in the aft cabin.

We were all up too late sharing stories with Bliss who surprised us by having a delicious dinner cooked and ready when we arrived.  Here’s hoping everyone sleeps in tomorrow!

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