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Day 32 – On the move. 1/2/19


We have so enjoyed our time at Man Island.  Can’t believe we expected to stay one night but we ended up staying 5 nights.  That’s how it goes on a boat sometimes.  We really needed the downtime.  The weather was perfect.  Man island had so much to offer with beaches, snorkeling, island walks to isolated beaches, sand bars….I think I could have stayed there for weeks!  Mike and I had never been there before when we lived on Mandolin – fun to explore a new place. 

Today was busy with some apprehension this morning as we did the Devil’s backbone this time with no pilot leading us.  We had our “breadcrumbs” from the navigation apps, and the route the pilot had taken matched the charts exactly.  We knew from our prior boating experience that we could do it but still the stories that people have built up about the narrow passage had us taking extra precautions.   We left today as the skies were clear, winds light – lots of good visibility to read the water which is critical in some areas of the Bahamas.

We made it uneventfully back to Spanish wells, anchored for a trip to town, then later in afternoon picked up anchor again to get to a better overnight anchorage.  Felt like a long day.   No swimming or lounging about today.

Our trip to town was not as productive as we hoped.  We arrived at 12:30…only to find out that many stores close for lunch from 12-1.  Then found out that the key grocery stores we needed actually close every Wednesday for the afternoon.  Some old holdover from England when the British settled on the island.  So no bread, fruit or veggies for us.  Even if the stores were open someone told us they were empty due to the extra holiday visitors.  “Best to come back after the mailboat arrives Thursday night to replenish.” Classic Bahamas!  Mike did have success finding his first official servings of cracked conch and conch fritters at a local restaurant which made him smile!

Our new anchorage is just a little spot tucked behind an island for wind protection and it has a beach full of pigs, ducks and turkeys to amuse the paying tourists. 

We’ll see what tomorrow brings.  Still debating if we should explore more of southern Eleuthera or head over to Exumas on the next north wind. We’ll see!

Day 31 – One month milestone 1/1/19


Happy New Year!

It is hard to believe we departed Colorado one month ago today. Our team of 4 is gradually settling into the rhythms of living on a sailboat and it’s fun to watch.   It would be nice if Emma slept through more sunrises, but she’s learning to be quiet at least and often gets several math pages done before the rest of us are even awake!

Today we tried something new: a “drift dive.” We took the dinghy out towards the ocean, jumped over with snorkels and floated with the incoming tide back towards the anchorage. You cover a lot of ground this way with less effort.  We saw various fish habitats – coral, tidal sand bars, sea grass beds – and over one of the sand bars we floated over a resting nurse shark.  Half our group was out of the water in a flash but stuck their masks back in the water – we all watched it swim peacefully away.

Another calm day meant swimming, acrobatics on paddleboards, showers – a lazy afternoon close to the boat.  Got caught up on a few chores like Henry and Mike getting their haircuts on the back deck.  We took advantage of the cloudless sky to try out Amel’s evacuated-tube solar oven that’s perfect for cooking pork tenderloin.  Smelling a tasty dinner and watching steam shoot out the end of a solar oven will make you wonder why more of these things aren’t in use on sunny days on every back porch. I think we’ll be investing in one for Colorado on our return.Today was a good start to 2019.  Sure hope yours was too!    

Day 30 – Monday – Beginning and ending in the Bahamas 12/31/18


Happy New Year Everyone!

It seems an odd coincidence that we began 2018 on a vacation trip to Amel with Reid and Rheta and now we are also ending 2018 in the Bahamas on Amel!   

We woke up to unforecasted clouds and showers that quickly gave way to another sunny tropical day.  Today’s highlights – swimming with a manatee, “hiking” through the jungle to a pristine beach on the atlantic side, and flying the stunt kite in a fresh breeze.  Humans on megayachts provided the afternoon entertainment – gasoline powered jet surfboards, electric sea-bob devices which let you snorkel without kicking and of course: 60mph jet skis.  As usual, they all left early and we had the place to ourselves at sunset.  We’re looking forward to meeting some more like-minded sailboats in the Exumas – all these massive motorboats are a bit much!!

Day 29 – Another day at the beach. Sunday – 12/30/18


Sailing often means timing activities to the wind and the tides. Today’s morning low tide exposed a huge sand bar about a mile away so we left the breakfast dishes in the sink and set off to explore before 8am.  We found baby conch, tube worms, starfish, caves, and turtles in the mangroves on the way back.  The rest of the day was spent celebrating another day of not moving the boat!  A highlight for the kids was that our snorkeling trip included a gasoline-powered paddle board ride (aka wakeboarding). It was even calm enough to blow up all the inflatables for the kids (they swam for hours just off the back of the boat with those.    Henry volunteered to climb the mast to take photos of the fun from above. As the sun began to set all the other boats left the area and we were left happily alone on the beach to roast hot dogs over our campfire made from driftwood.  Not a bad day at all! 

We’ll likely have 1 more day here, then it will be time to move on and get ready for a coming change in the weather.  There’s some north wind in the forecast later in the week that we can use to sail south to the Exumas (we hope).

Day 27 – Wind calms a little, clouds hang on…12/28/18


Happy to report the winds finally calmed by dinner. The sun still remains elusive and was mainly absent.  We did have a lively sail this afternoon in 20knots…then gusting to 25 and then 30! Glad we were sailing downwind with just a little of the genoa out.  Tonight, we are the only boat anchored tonight off a little sandy beach called Man Island.  It’s about 4 miles north of Dunmore town still in the protected harbor.

Mike had a fun morning using his solar engineering skills to help out a homeowner in the fancy South Bar private estate.  I met the lady yesterday by chance while I was in my business meeting. She was upset that no one locally could make the system work and she would have to fly in her expert from New Jersey.  I said “well – I have a solar expert on the boat in the harbor – would you like help today?”!  She was ecstatic!  Mike visited the house yesterday evening and then went back this morning for a few hours.  A side benefit…we got a load of laundry done at the house while he worked!  Woohoo … first time since Susan’s house in Florida.

So while Mike happily played with solar panels, wiring and batteries, the kids and I had a good morning of school (with everyone in happy moods!), games and even hide and seek (quite a challenge on a boat when every compartment is full!).

This afternoon, Tina got another few hours of work in while the others explored the little beach, secret pathways to the Atlantic side and explored some local snorkeling areas.  It was cloudy and felt a bit cold once all were wet, but everyone had fun.

Dinner of beef stroganoff with canned beef and canned green beans was delicious.  With a freshly opened coconut to add to our dinner, we enjoyed eating in the cockpit with our holiday lights up. We are all starting to feel like we are getting the hang of this!

Looking forward to a day tomorrow with no events, no plans, no meetings …. completely open to enjoy and relax. Fingers crossed the weather cooperates!

Day 26 – the endless wind… 12/27/18


Bit of a low day on board for everyone.  Perhaps we were all tired from staying up for last night’s super fun Junkanoo parade.  Perhaps the relentless 30knot + wind battering us and howling through the rigging has our heads ringing.  Today was a big work day for Tina on the laptop, work phone calls, meetings on land (by chance a contact from Toronto was in this island on holiday and we set up a business mtg while in the same location!).   Mike and kids wrestled their way through some school work, got to visit the islands famous bakery, and did a little shopping.  The fresh veggies available today were cabbage and lettuce (carrots too but we still have ours from US).  Nothing much green available….canned veggies for dinner it is.  Rainstorms off and on all day long provided just enough water to scrub the decks but not enough to fill the tanks.

Tomorrow’s forecast…reduced winds…but only from 30+ to 25+….hmmmm….

Included a few photos from Christmas day visit to beach and fun dinner festive lights in cockpit.

Also, we just got news that one of Tina’s clients just had a workplace fatality at their manufacturing facility – someone Tina knew.  Devastating news.  How quickly life can change.  The gentleman was 60, married with 2 kids and 7 grandkids.  He was a lovely soul and a pleasure to work with.  We never know when our time will come.  Be intentional with your life, your time, who you spend it with.  Give your loved ones an extra hug tonight.

Day 25 – Boxing day – 12/26/18


Happy Boxing Day!  Fun to be a commonwealth country that celebrates the same holidays as Canada! Finally the sun appeared and the winds came back at 20 knots too. A more relaxing day of breakfast in the cockpit, a nice long walk on the pink sand beach on the Atlantic side this time starting from the southern end of island.  Tina got a few hours of work in on the laptop while others spent afternoon swimming around the boat.  The air is 82 but it feels a bit cold when you’re wet in the wind!  Showers are a little painful in this weather.  We try to conserve fresh water so we soap up and jump in the ocean to rinse the soap, then do a final fresh water rinse (to rinse off the salt) from the solar shower while sitting on the floor of the cockpit to get protection from the wind.  Makes you want a cup of hot chocolate once it’s all done!

In the photos tonite I included one of Amel with all 3 sails up. This was from last week as we sailed form Chubb to Spanish Wells.  Another cruiser just sent us the photo.

Tonight we are off to Junkanoo!  It’s a special Bahamian celebration with parade and costumes (somewhat similar to Carnival). It will be a super late night so more about that tomorrow!

Day 24 – MERRY CHRISTMAS – 12/25/18


Location doesn’t seem to matter to children when it’s Christmas morning. “Did Santa find us?” is the key question!  Yes – he did.  A cool, cloudy morning was perfect to enjoy stockings, open presents and then spend the morning grazing on tasty treats, making Lego Sailboats and working on new art projects.  Mike even gave Amel a Christmas gift of a new Cockpit Dodger roof window glass replacement before our afternoon beach excursion.

I did have a Christmas day dinner plan to attempt to match what we would normally do at home…but none of us were really in the mood. We all decided since we were throwing tradition to the wind this year anyhow – why not mix up dinner too.  Homemade pizzas was the vote.  Perfect to have the stove on to warm the place up a bit.  It totally hit the spot to enjoy eating it in the cockpit with our Christmas lights flashing.

Thank you for all the messages, emails and comments.  It is always so great to hear from everyone so far away.  Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas!

Day 23 – Christmas Eve – Monday – 12/24/18

A perfect day in the Bahamas!  We explored the famous ‘pink sand’ beach on the Atlantic ocean side of the island (incredibly soft sand – like baby powder), wandered through town (in daylight this time!), moved Amel 1 mile to Cistern Rock for our first official snorkel in the most incredibly clear water with so many fish and a turtle too. A Canadian friend of Tina’s told us about the snorkel spot and we met him and his family there.  He grew up on the south end Harbor Island during the ‘50’s and has many stories to share.  A brief 10mins motor back to the main island to anchor near South Bar Club – a much quieter and more scenic location than being right off the main town.  We have a lovely beach near us and a big sand flat to explore at low tide.  The wind is still cool, the sun is warm when not hiding behind clouds.  The wetsuits were helpful to extend our snorkel this afternoon!

By 4pm, we were at anchor, clean from showers on deck, ready to finish decorating and getting ready for Santa.  We all snuggled in to watch Christmas Chronicles movie – a perfect choice!  The kids cabin has Christmas lights strung up, they have laid out their “santa hat” (an improvised stocking for this year on the boat), and the cookies and milk are out and ready to go.

Happy Christmas Eve to you all!

Love Tina, Mike, Henry and Emma