GRAY GHOST SAILING

We have been back in Arkansas for about a month. We put Gray Ghost in hurricane hibernate mode and said goodbye to the Brunswick marina wildlife.

We loaded the dogs in the truck with a lot of the stuff we did not use this past season. There was seriously only enough room on the passenger side of the car for me to move my feet oh so slightly. The dogs were great sports about the whole thing, just as they have been during this whole adventure. And yes, I brought toilet paper home, but I also gave a lot of it away.

We stopped off in Germantown, TN to see my brother Phillip, sister-in-law Sarah Beth, and best friend Nikki. We got to my brother’s place at 12:47 AM, stayed up until at least 2:00 AM talking. Before we went to bed, he told us to get anything out that was valuable because even though he lives in a very nice neighborhood, the low life scum bags are still out and about. Sure enough, between 2:00 AM and 5:30 AM his truck was broken into. Luckily not anything of value was in the truck. Beware if you own a F150, the boys in the hood know how to jimmy the door handle to get into the truck without setting off the alarms. Apparently, there are You Tube videos out there on how to do this. Keep in mind our truck was loaded down with stuff, they were only interested in the F150. They probably thought our Yukon was a soccer mom car with stinky kids’ soccer clothes. Looking back at the surveillance tapes the thieves were packing guns as they were displayed clearly in their hands.

Once we were back home, we had to take care of maintenance issues that arose as a result of us being gone and mother nature being a cold-hearted bitch. Two pipes in the upstairs shower froze and busted. Bubba discovered this while he was home the previous week taking care of Skip’s personal effects. We called our friend Mike Pradmore who is a plumber to come out and get us fixed up again. A few busted tiles later we had the pipes fixed.

In addition to the shower being disabled the jacuzzi tub that was original to the house has also been removed. When Bubba was home the previous week, he removed the jacuzzi tub to see if the leak was coming from there. I have been wanting to replace the tub for some time, so this was the perfect opportunity. New tub has arrived just waiting for our friend Mile to be available to help us again with the plumbing part.

Since we have been home we haven’t spent much time on the lake. We have spent most of our time just getting the house and land back they way we want it. I have been busy taking Mom to her doctor appointments, taking her to the store and out to eat. She is not ready to drive yet, nor do I think she will probably drive again. She is still using the walker and due to it’s weight there is no way she could fold it up and get it into the back of the trunk of her car. I got new chairs for the fire pit. Bubba installed new cables on the boat dock and fixed railing on the boat dock that somehow came undone. Bubba collected up a pile of trees that floated into our cove and cleaned them up.

I did some blueberry picking at Rosete Family Farms. Organic, fresh bluberries are the best especially when you get to try them before you pick them off the tree.

We were invited out on the water with our neighbors Lisa and Jim one Sunday afternoon. It was good to be out on the water. Of all the years we have lived on this lake and tooted around the shoreline, we had never been back to War Eagle Cavern before. I am going to have to actually go in this thing this year. I have been to their store for work purposes only.

The dogs are enjoying being home. They both had their vet check up yesterday. Tess got a clean bill of health however Bulleit is going to need to have at least one tooth pulled.

Almost everyone asks me, so what’s next? This is a tough one. As much as I try to not allow life to get in the way of me doing the things that are important to me, I also recognize that I have responsibilities that I need to own. My brother Phillip did an outstanding job the last few months of taking care of my mom while she recovered from her broken hip. For two and half months he was here in Northwest Arkansas taking care of her instead of being at home in Germantown, TN.

We made the decision to not move Mom to TN because all of her doctors were here. At the time we left she could drive herself to her appts and to go shopping. Where we live is one of the safest places in the US as far as I am concerned. She lives in a gated apartment complex and has a garage, so I feel like she is in safe place.

Without going into all the details, it was a long 3 months of her recovery, and I can’t thank my best friend Cherie for all that she did for mama and Phillip during that time.

When we started this adventure, I always said this was something we wanted to do while we had our health and a little money. We are not rich by any stretch of the imagination. Thanks to our senile and corrupt President our wealth has dwindled even more. While we were on this adventure I have continued to work remotely. At times I found it hard to do as there was too much visual and noise distractions. Nonetheless anyone who was with us the last few months will tell you I put in my hours. In hindsight I should have quit and taken the time to fully enjoy the adventure. In the scheme of things, I have an easy job, I am paid well for what I do, I have a lot of flexibility. Unfortunately, the owner of my company said he can’t have me gone again for 10 months. We came to an arrangement of 4 weeks to work from wherever I chose plus my four weeks of vacation. It is a fair compromise but not enough time to devote to enjoying a sailboat.

After a lot of reflection, some alcoholic beverages, and time alone in the woods I decided the best option for where Bubba and I are at in life, our relationship and our family is to put the boat up for sale with Dennison Yachting and our friend Keith who originally sold us the boat when he worked for Leopard.

The first couple of weeks of transitioning to land were extremely difficult for me. Internally I fought with myself over this decision. Where I landed at it is if the boat sells by December than it was meant to be otherwise, we will take the 8 weeks that I have to be away from the office and go back out on the boat. I am leaving this in God’s hands.

There are a lot of things that I am going to miss, the people we met and shared life with the past 10 months.

First, Barnard Meyer who was the captain that taught me how to maneuver the Gray Ghost in tight, challenging quarters. If you ever need assistance getting your boat moved he is your guy!

Our Brunswick Landing crew: Bob and Anita, John and Sharon, Dale, Debbie, Dave and Ali, Michelle, Caila and Lucey, Nancy, Ian and Margaret, Phillip and Anita and Nancy. Special recognition to Brunswick Landing Marina team and Michael Torras for being so engaged and accommodating with the cruisers.

Our Georgetown crew: Bob, Cindy, Dean, Dennis, SV Harp, Rebecca, Jill, Christina and John, Chris and Sue, Francis and Vickey, Tiffany and Tom, Dave and Phyllis, Shelley and Dwight Amie and Scott, Nikki and Barry, Denise and Ryan, Becky and Joe and last but not least Petro and Frik (Bubba’s man crush).

Our boat buddies: David and Sarah and John and Tracey. The months we spent together making our way through the Bahamas will live with me forever. Your support during that time meant everything to me.

The things I am NOT going to miss is the anchor alarm, the wind, lightening, squalls, shallow water, and coming in and out of inlets on the Atlantic Ocean side.

Stay tuned as I plan to keep this blog updated with what is going on. In the meantime, enjoy your summer!

We are up bright and early to make our way to our next destination, Cumberland National Seashore. Bubba really wanted to try to make it to Brunswick but that would have put us getting into the marina around 9:00 which was not ideal. We needed to time the inlet with Cumberland correctly as well because it too has a really strong current.

There is not much to do at Cumberland except explore the island. Cumberland Island is a barrier island off of Georgia’s southeast coast with protected beaches and maritime forest. The Dungeness Ruins are the remains of a mansion built by Thomas Carnegie, brother and partner of the steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie.

While making our way down we caught ourselves playing chicken with the Navy. We had a war ship that kept going back and forth in front of us. Oh Shit! We do we do? We finally got a tug boat that was near the warship to answer our call. They were towing a barge into the St. John’s River and the Navy was there to assist.

The current was still coming out when we got to the inlet. We had not had any wind all day, until that is we got to the inlet, and it began to gust 20 knots. Bubba ended up throwing the jib up to give us a little advantage over the current.

We got anchored in front of the ferry drop off location. We then started prepping for dinner on board.

We played a few more games of Mexican Train before we went to bed for the evening. We would be rising early again in the morning to make the short sail over to Brunswick. Of course, our timing we all be to sync up with the tides changes that would be happening as we made our way. I have to say, the St. Mary’s inlet is one of the best marked inlets we have been to. It is visibly clear and easy to read.

Our timing was perfect with the St. Simon inlet going into Brunswick. We got back to the marina fairly quick compared to the first time we came last Fall. We are back at the same slip location we were at last year on dock 0, South dock. Kyle, Phillip, Anita and Alli came by to welcome us and get us tied off.

While I get us checked in the boys needed to make sure the truck was still there and it would crank. If it did not crank, then we had our little jumper that I had been charging just in case. We got the old girl running and drove over for some pizza at Fox’s, took the car through the car wash, and went to Lowe’s for a new water hose.

The following day Bubba and James would be traveling back to Arkansas. They would have a later flight out. Luckily, I got them to the airport early and that is where they found out there was an issue with James’s ticket. Bubba and James would make it out of Brunswick but would end up getting stuck in Atlanta for the night. They would arrive to NWA the next morning.

Bubba would spend the next couple of days managing Skip’s affairs. Special appreciation for the family for stepping in until Bubba could get back. All that I can say here is make sure you have your affairs in order, we never know when our day will come. Not having your effects in order causes unnecessary stress on your loved ones not to mention the legal ramifications that also occur.

One other thing I will say, the reason why we chose to take this jump to try to live out our dream of living on a boat is at no point in time would our health be any better than it was last year when we started. We work crazy hours and in stressful jobs to hope to one day have enough money to retire. What I would say is you will never have enough money and if you do our government will find any means they can to take it from you. What you should be considering is will I have my health to enjoy retirement. Very few people have both so get out there and live now.

Oh, James and Bulleit also graduated to this status before he left the boat.

Bubba and James enjoyed a few cocktails at some point in time during their airport travels.

Sunrise was at 6:38 that morning and winds were going to be out of the East. This means we would be exiting the inlet wave on and wind on our nose. The waves were projected to be 5 ft which was more like 10-12 ft. I am sure James thought we were crazy, but we were at the inlet and were too far along to back out of the commitment. The weather called for a smoother ride the further we got away from New Smyrna and that is exactly what happened.

We had a long day ahead of us and I knew we had to time the St. Augustine inlet at the right time because it too has a really strong current. Bubba wanted to sail which at times caused us to get too far offshore in an attempt to catch the wind. I would have to suggest we make the adjustment to get closer to shore and turn on the engines. We arrived at 5:00 on Sunday and grabbed mooring ball 13 like the pro’s that we have become. This was James’s first time grabbing a mooring ball as up to this point we had been anchoring.

We were all too eager to get off the boat so the boys went and got us checked in, picked up some diesel for just in case. We then headed over to Harry’s for a delicious seafood creole meal. This was James’s first time to visit St. Augustine and Harry’s left a huge impression on him! My crab cakes were the best I have ever had and James could not stop talking about his lobster!

After dinner we walked around a little bit and took James over to Dog Rose brewery for a beer. James is planning to come back later this year with his fiancée to see more of the city together. I absolutely love the area, if you have never visited it is worth the trip.

With our bellies full and headed off to bed for a good night’s sleep from our mooring ball.

We briefed James the night before on the plans for the next couple of days. One of the things you have to know about sailing though is plans are subject to change and one of the worst things you can have is a schedule.

As we were pulling anchor, we received a notification that the Margaritaville cruise ship was entering the inlet at 7:00 in the morning. We slowly made our way down the ICW channel to find one of the mega yachts getting ready to leave as well. I could not determine what the pilot boats were doing but soon learned they were floating the mega yachts anchor up from the floor. We pushed through only to find a tanker headed in that had not communicated their approach to the channel. I was already at 2150 RPMs on boat engines getting out of the channel, I hurried and veered off as quickly and safely as I could.

The sea state was pretty calm, we had 2 ft swells about every 6 seconds. As I watched the weather and radar during the day it became clearer that we really should try for an overnight sail to New Smyrna instead of stopping in Fort Pierce. There was a line a of thunderstorms that would be coming from Brunswick area our direction that would cause us to need to spend an extra day or maybe two. We were slowly breaking James in for what that evening would later be a rollie night passage. I think James got up once during the night, stuck his head out the door and decided to go back to bed. Bubba and I took shifts at the helm watching for freighters and cruise ships as we passed along Cape Canaveral. I don’t like this leg of the trip because it takes forever!

We had a beautiful sunset and moon rising. Overnight Bubba would slow us down a bit, so it was a more comfortable ride. When I went on shift, I turned both engines on as we needed to make up time and we needed to arrive the anchorage before the storm hit.

This line of thunderstorms would eventually turn from green to red and yellow as it reached a warmer climate. We anchored just off of the Ponce de Leon lighthouse and Sea Love Boatworks marina just in time for the storm to hit.

After a few games of Mexican train, a shower, and waiting for the rain to pass we made a run over to Down the Hatch for a late lunch.

There would be a few more games of Mexican Train that afternoon. James and Bubba would make their way back to Down the Hatch a little later on for James to get his seafood fix for the evening. I stayed back on the boat and chilled.

The next morning, we would be up bright an early to depart. Little did we know getting out of the inlet was going to be our biggest challenge yet as the forecasted seas were not quite what they were predicted to be, stay tuned for the next leg of this adventure.

One of the reasons we left the Abaco’s when we did was I needed to get to West Palm to fly back to Bentonville for a meeting with one of my clients and Walmart. John and Tracey also needed to get back to Florida to have some work done at Just Catamarans and Leopard.

Not sure what it was about the last few days that we were traveling and our time in West Palm but it was a very active thunderstorm week. Around 10:45 we loaded up in our dinghy, grabbed John and Tracey and headed over to the City Docks to grab a bite to eat and then an Uber over to Publix.

Let me just throw this out there, you don’t go to the Bahamas to eat well., you go there for the most beautiful blue waters, the beaches, and the turtles. The food is outrageously expensive for what you get, then there is the VAT tax added on along with your tip. The food is average, and the main staples are peas n rice, macaroni, and mostly fried protein which is typically some kind of fish. The alcoholic drinks are a minimum of $15.00 and are not that great. Bubba likes a beer with flavor and some umph behind it, the beer selection there is pretty limited. To be back in the US with food selection and foods that had flavor and taste was a most welcomed change from the last five months.

We hopped over to ER Bradley’s for a delicious lunch before grabbing the uber to Publix. The Publix in Palm Beach is super fancy from the outside and loaded with selection on the inside. This is another extravagant experience we had been missing. In the Bahamas the largest grocery store with the most items was found on Marsh Harbor which was towards the end of our trip. While Publix prices are high, they were still not as high as the Bahamas.

We knew an afternoon storm was pending so we quickly did our shopping and grabbed another uber back to the City Dock. This uber driver did not speak any English, like zero, not sure Uber even checks to make sure you are legally in the country. After talking with another Uber driver about the company he probably did not have insurance either. We got back to the boat just in time for the winds to pick up and an afternoon storm rolled through.

The next day, the weather was a lot of the same. Late Saturday afternoon a tornado struck nearby where people and boats were in the water, roofs and cars were reported damaged. I was to fly out of West Palm Beach around 11:00 on Sunday morning. I elected to get up early to get off the boat as the weather was projected to be nasty about the time I needed to leave. It put me getting to the airport about three hours before I needed to but was a smart decision as the sky grew dark, tornado warnings were issued, and it rained hard. This also allowed me to try to get on an earlier flight which would later work to my advantage as flights were delayed due to the storms.

I would make it back to Arkansas on the very last flight of the night, got my rental car and checked into my hotel. The next day was our meeting with Walmart. There was not much for me to prepare for. This meeting was more about insights into the category and how to classify items that were plant based. Our category insights guy was doing the heavy lifting. Walmart is making some risky moves removing plant-based items out of their stores. This puts Publix and Kroger in a position to win big time. Sometimes you can have all of the data in the world but still need to trust your gut. I am pretty sure this decision is going to cost them sales and customers. Also, pretty sure I won’t have a job with them in 90 days either due to the decisions Walmart is making. I have worked with this company for the last 5 years and each year it gets worse as this space gains new competition from companies with deeper pockets.

In the meantime, John and Tracey are keeping Bubba in line. Everyone and anyone know this role is a full-time job.

As I am getting ready to leave the airport to return to West Palm Beach, I get a call from Bubba telling me that his ex-stepdad Skip had passed away the night before. Bubba would need to get back to Arkansas to take care of Skip’s affairs. Now what to do about the boat, the dogs, and our friend James who had planned to visit us in West Palm. As I sat on the plane, I came up with the plan for how to make this all work and for everyone to be safe.

James would fly in on Thursday. He agreed to accompany us on the journey to Brunswick. He has been on boats before but nothing like he was about to experience. Catch the next post about the experience.

I think we did a pretty good job at conquering Hope Town. We very much enjoyed our stay, but it was time to get going. We would skip Man O War because it was a Sunday travel day and we knew this particular island would be closed up, so to speak, for a day of rest, family time and service. We also needed to get through this area called the Whale Cut while the weather was favorable. Apparently if the wind, weather and tides are not all working together this cut can become very dangerous. We needed to push forward as the upcoming weather looked favorable.

Guana would be our next stop. It has two beach bars on it, Grabbers and Nippers. The Potters were anchored not too far away and joined us in the anchorage. We visited Grabbers with the gang. The weather got a little dark and stormy looking and well, we were not quite sure our anchor was dug in the best, so we decided to head back to the boat and stay on board and make sure the boat was secure.

The next morning, we pulled up anchor and headed over to our next location Green Turtle. This is where we would encounter the Whale Cut. Happy to say the Whale Cut was super calm with just a slight roll to it.

Green Turtle is still recovering as well from Dorian, at a much slower pace than Marsh Harbor. The town is quite sleepy but that did not stop us from having fun.

The following morning, we would see Corey and Scott off as they were traveling back to their home in Nassau. We would be pulling up anchor shortly after they caught the ferry to make our way to Great Sail Cay. We would need to make some pretty good time to beat some late afternoon storms. Bubba caught a pretty good sized Cuda along the way.

About 20 minutes away from the anchorage we could see the sky getting darker and darker. We rolled in the jib and dropped the main sail before we got close as the last thing, we needed was to try to do that in gusting winds.

John on a Leopard 42 that was in charter Radio’d and said he had just come through the storm and saw over 40 kts of wind. Yikes! That is not a comfortable position to be in for sure. John is a Leopard 42 owner also, but his boat is in the BVI now in the charter program.

We got anchored and would spend the next couple of hours of daylight watching the wind. Around 10:40 PM conditions turned BAD! It was pitch dark, no moon, no stars, just rain and howling wind. You could not see anything out across the way except faint lights on the other boats around us as it was raining and blowing so hard. It was like that for a little over an hour and then it calmed down a bit. That night was the scariest we have had yet.

The next morning, we were up early again to pull anchor and make our way to West End. As we were leaving John Radio’d over to say goodbye and thank us for our anchor holding through the storm. I am pretty sure the storm rattled us all. We were welcomed to a beautiful sunrise that morning.

The ride to West End was super smooth and easy. I had mentioned to Bubba earlier in the day that we had not seen any dolphins since we had been traveling. About two hours later there was a pod of dolphins that saw us and then went to greet John and Tracey.

The trip to West End was so easy that we debated just going all the way to Florida and skipping West End. After checking the latest forecast and the radar I opted to not push through. Later we would hear that the storm that came out of Stuart was producing winds over 50 knots.

As we made our way into the marina there were people parachuting from planes. Kinda of crazy thing to see as you are approaching a marina.

The marina at West End is okay but it was really cramped. I ended up having a medium sized yacht shoved up my rear and king fisher pull in ahead of me. The no seeums were also bad. This is the first night we have had air conditioning on the boat since we left Brunswick the middle of November and I am pretty sure we did not have it turned on then. Pretty proud of myself for getting us out of our marina spot that morning in the pitch dark and pivoting the boat in the tight quarters we were in. I had not had to do that in a very long time.

The storms that evening stayed offshore and all that we got at the marina was a little wind.

We would rise and shine early the next morning to make our way across the Gulf Stream to West Palm Beach, Florida. Ryan Potter gave John coordinates that were to shoot us almost directly into the inlet at West End. The coordinates would take us slightly out of the way at first but then allow us to ride the Gulf Stream across. We budgeted for 12 hours but made it in a little over 8.5 hours. There were times we saw 8.5 knots during our crossing which was great.

We got into the inlet just as the 17 knots of wind began to happen which was projected. We anchored down in a favorite spot there in West Palm Beach. We spent Thanksgiving there and rode out a blow there in November, so we knew the spot was trustworthy.

Stay tuned for the next update!

Our time is wrapping up in the Abaco’s but before we leave John and Tracey have friends flying in for a short visit. We also have to say see you later to Bruce and Brenda as they need to get back to Colorado and get ready for their son’s graduation from college. Bubba, Tracy and John would crew over to Marsh Harbor with Bruce and Brenda to help put their boat into the marina for the next month. They would then pick up Corey and Scott and catch the ferry back over to Hope Town. Meanwhile, the dogs and I enjoyed a quiet, peaceful day on the boat.

Later that evening we would head over to Hope Town Inn and Marina for drinks with Steve Campana and his wife as well as the crew from earlier in the day.

The next morning, we hopped in the dinghy and went to visit the lighthouse again with Corey and Scott. The views from high above are beautiful and well worth the climb up the stairs to see it.

That afternoon we rented golf carts again so we could visit some of the spots we went to previously and added a new location on to the list, Abaco Inn.

We enjoyed some appetizers and a drink before hopping back on the golf carts to go to Tahiti Beach. There is a ton of new development taking place on this end of Hope Town. In the picture below we just passed a section of the island that was limestone that reminded us of a spot on the way to Eureka Springs where they dynamited it so they could get the road through.

The tide was down when we arrived. We chatted with some cruisers who were on a charter boat. The question we get asked a lot by people we meet is what do we do or how did we make our money to be able to do this. Tracey and I always have to explain that we are still working and the boys are retired. Of course all of the men are like how do we get on that program.

Our next stop was to Firefly. We absolutely loved this restaurant. It had a beautiful view, great drinks and delicious food.

We wrapped up the day at Capt’n Jacks after we dropped off the golf carts. Also included here is photos of one of the guest home and main house that I fell in love with.

We had one more day to the weekend so we needed to make the most of it. We were invited to church by Grandfather so we obliged by attending the 11:00 Methodist service. The church is lovely on the inside and out and has an incredible view of the Atlantic ocean.

We sat behind a nice Southern family that was there visiting. It was a son, daughter in law, and the mothers of the son and daughter in law. We had a nice chat with them.

After church we went back to the boat and changed into our swin attire. We loaded up the dinghies with our chairs and umbrella and went over to the beach to enjoy some sand and sun. I also did a little beachcombing, was lucky to find my first sea bean. What is a sea bean? Sea-beans are seeds or fruits that are carried to the ocean from rivers and streams originating in South & Central Florida usually in the Amazon. They are also known as drift seeds. These little beans do not originate from any sea plant.

Tracey and John went snorkeling. Luckily this shark was going the opposite direction of where they were snorkeling.

Later that afternoon we joined Shelley and Dwight on 10-7 Freedom and Denise and Ryan on La Gra for sundowners on their boat. Shelley and Dwight would be leaving the Bahamas soon to make their way back to Florida and then on to the Brunswick Landing Marina in Georgia where we will be again this year. I need to start being careful telling everyone about Brunswick or I might find myself without a slip in the future. Dwight and Shelly will be there with us this year along with our friends Scott and Amie on Mon Amie all new Leopard owners who got their boat around the same time as us. Nicole and Kevin O’Donohue will also be there this year as well. They just took possession of their boat a little over a month ago. A new friend we met in Hole 2, Rebecca Thompson will also be there on their catamaran. We will be joined again by Mokakat, Delos and Discovery who have been going to Brunswick for years sometime soon as well. I think Brunswick is going to need to build more dock space!

Our friends Sarah and David from B4Checkout caught up with us in Hope Town. They invited us to Cap N Jacks for Bingo with their friends Kelly and Rob. David won one of the Bingo rounds unfortunately that is where our luck ran out as the storms would not stay away. The dinghy and our boat got a good rinse down!

While playing bingo we met another couple whom we have mutual friends. Bruce and Brenda who just recently took possession of their Leopard 45. We would spend the next couple of days with them exploring the island. We rented golf carts for one afternoon to do a little Bahamian. pub crawl. Our first stop was Da Beach Bar.

Our next stop was at Tahiti Beach. This beach is located on the southern end of the island where there is a ton of new development. You seriously would never believe you were in the Bahamas, it felt more like 30A at Destin.

There is a floating houseboat called the Thirsty Cuda that serves up drinks. A sandbar forms during low tide and there is a lot of sea life to see.

Our next stop was Firefly. Firefly is hands down the best place in the Bahamas we have eaten and their drinks are tasty also. One of the drinks on their menu is called the peter wacker, it is similar to a mudslide but made with the Firefly moonshine. The recipe is Firefly java rum, banana rum, caramel moonshine and Bailey’s. Tracey saw that they had a Firefly Chocolate Pecan Pie Moonshine so she substituted and put it in her drink and we called it the Nudo Wacker (Nudo is her last name) unfortunately I don’t think they are going to add this drink name to their menu. If you haven’t picked up on the clue, this restaurant is owned by the people who have Firefly Distillery in North Charleston, SC.

We finished up the evening with a delicious meal and a golf cart ride back to the dock.

It’s Friday and time for us to say goodbye to Marsh Harbour and make our 1.5-hour sail/motor over to Hope Town. We had good winds coming out of the harbor but then made our turn towards Hope Town and had the wind pretty much at a 30-degree angle, so we had to turn the motors on and bring in the jib. Along the way a catamaran that was passing us going out of Hope Town was flying their spinnaker.

As we approached the anchorage John threw me a curve ball and made the decision to go on the inside to the anchorage to grab a mooring ball. I had not mentally prepared for this because the previous discussion had been anchoring would be fine. When he made the turn, all that I could say was, SHIT, let’s do this! I told Bubba to get the mooring lines ready because we are going on the inside.

It was a bit hectic going into the cut as there is a lot of power boat traffic and most of them have the Bubba syndrome, impatient, and wanting to be the King of the road. I read the water and how the current was behaving and picked my path. As I am coming in this huge fishing boat decides he wants to play chicken with me, and I say game on.

When we got on the inside the mooring field was intimidating as you had to decipher which ones were okay to pick up, which ones were reserved, which ones were broken. We picked ours up closer to the front of the line.

As we settled in and I looked around the harbour all I could think is what a charming area. The homes along the harbour were painted different colors and most of them looked freshly painted or new thanks to hurricane Dorian.

The homes and the streets here remind me alot of Key West. They use golf carts and there are some cars. We ate dinner the first night at Cap’n Jack. Our drink for the night was a jack hammer. While at the restaurant one of the You Tube channels we follow who are also Leopard owners came in. You can check out their channel Folsom’s Ocean View although she is no longer publishing videos. We chatted with them for a few minutes and took a lovely walk through town.

Tracey and I are both still working full time, so the weekends are the only real, good, quality time we have to get out and explore. After a few morning chores we got up and hit the town again. As we were making our way through the anchorage Tracey stopped to ask one of the boats who she needed to pay for their mooring ball. We got to talking to the couple, Patti and Lance, and shortly after the conversation started and we said we were from Arkansas Lance said, do you know Dale. Then Lance says, ARE YOU BUBBA. Like seriously, every island we go to someone has heard of Bubba. Not sure if this is good or bad.

Our next stop was Hope Town Inn and Marina where Tracey paid for their mooring ball. We were given permission to leave or dinghies there to walk over to the Lighthouse. We made our way through the boatyard, up the stairs and to the top. Well, some of us did, Bubba sat the Lighthouse stair climbing out.

The Elbow Reef Lighthouse is the last manual, kerosene fueled, intact and complete Lightstation on the planet. It is the only manned lighttower in the world who’s burner has not been electrified. Its lens is hand wound and it is fueled by kerosene. It has been manned and hand operated since 1863.

While I was at the top of the Lighthouse a couple that I knew from Brunswick Landing Marina walked up. I say hey guys I know you! She immediately turns to John who is standing beside me and says, Bubba, your not Bubba. Good grief!

After our walk over to the Lighthouse we stopped back at Hope Town Marina and Resort which is a beautiful little spot. After that hike and climbing the stairs an adult beverage was in order. We stopped at the outside pool bar for s drinks, to catch our breath and to cool off.

Our next stop was to visit the home of Grandfather on the north side of the island. Tracey and John know Grandfather through his granddaughter. His granddaughter was friends with Tracey and John’s youngest daughter. Grandfather splits his time between Fort Lauderdale and Hope Town, we were fortunate that he was on island during our visit here. They have a beautiful home and view of the Atlantic side of the island.

We enjoyed our visit with Grandfather. We hopped back on our bikes and went towards the other end of the island.

We had worked up an appetite so we persuaded Bubba to keeping biking and see if we could find a place to grab a bite. We continued pedaling and found our way to Firefly. The food and service were awesome and definitely a place we will eat at again. While we were there, we got a surprise visit from Michelle Ropiza, her husband and Mom. They happened to be in the area and stopped by to say Hi.

It was a long day, and we were all pretty exhausted, especially since we still had to ride the bikes back to the boat on a full stomach!

Our passage from Egg Island at Spanish Wells to Little Harbour in the Abacos was a roller coaster. The swells ranged from 5-foot to 10-foot rollers that were staged about every 7 seconds apart. This made for a long ten plus hour passage, but it was nowhere near as miserable as the passage we took from Cumberland to St. Augustine at the beginning of this sailing season. On that trip I white knuckled the whole way. We had great wind, so we sailed the entire way with the engines off until we reached the cut.

One of the boats ahead of us radio’d and said he was catching Mahi-Mahi to make sure we had our rod out. Bubba had to reel this guy in with the boat going 6 kts. The first good fish on since we started this season. We have had a few barracudas but those are given back to the ocean. With the waves and the wind going crazy we opted to not do a photo shoot with the Mahi and instead got him into the bucket as fast as we could, so we were both safe and secure. Seriously, it was so rollie you could not stand up on the boat without bracing yourself.

We arrived at Little Harbour to transit to cut with good timing. I let a monohull go in front of me just so I could see how the current was. From the cut we motored to Lynyard Cay to drop anchor for the night. We would only be staying here for one night as we wanted to get to Marsh Harbour on Sunday to get anchored down for the big blow that was coming our way. When I say big blow I mean BIG BLOW. We had not rode a storm out quite like this one on anchor before.

We would have a short motor to Marsh Harbour, about four hours total. We arrived and got anchored in time to go ashore to Snappa’s to grab a bite to eat and stretch our legs. Marsh Harbour is slowly getting rebuilt. If you recall, Dorian sat over this part of the Bahamas for 36 hours in 2019. In comparison to it’s sister island of Hope Town there does not appear to be as much outside investment here.

The highest wind I saw was at 35 kts. Our Rocna anchor worked like a champ. We had a small monohull next to us, a sweet couple from Lake Tahoe, CA. We were a little close as our anchor line extended but it all worked out well.

We would ride out the storm from late Sunday as the winds began to shift and clouds rolled in, until mid-Thursday afternoon. We were about to go stir crazy and the crew was ready to jump ship. I have to say our Starlink worked like a champ during the whole storm. This thing has been a game changer for cruisers.

On Thursday we went back to Snappas to grab a late lunch/early dinner and then walked close to a mile to and from the grocery store. Maxwell’s is the largest grocery store we have been to yet. They had a wide selection of food to choose from.

On Friday we would be making the short 1.5-hour journey over to Hope Town.

Mother Nature is at it again! We are anchored down at Spanish Wells riding out another blow. We anchored at Meek’s Patch versus Russell Island so that we had more protection from the wind. This means we have to dinghy about 3 miles into the harbor to do anything. The dinghy ride is pretty painful as we jump 2 foot swells across the channel.

The Spanish Wells Yacht Club has a restaurant called Wreckers. They have a half priced drink selection from 4-6. Mixed drinks are $7 and beer is $5. This is a really good deal considering what we have been paying. The employees working there are pretty friendly as well. Georgia and Michael took great care of us during our visits.

Even the locals here in Spanish Wells know the real deal!

Most of the island travels by golf cart so of course we had to rent one. The first one that Bubba picked out had a small problem. After we got 100 yards away from the place we rented from it stopped and would only go in reverse. So, Bubba took us all the way back down the docks in REVERSE!

We stopped to check out the beach, found Old Pot’s road (Tracey and John knew the man the road is named after, unfortunately he has passed away), we grabbed a bite to eat at the Sandbar, and checked out the grocery store (the closest normal grocery store we have seen in a long time.

Upon our return to our dinghy, we found it had been moved. We asked the gas attendant, and he said it had been moved to let the water taxi dock there. Okay, we had no idea there was a water taxi that came in and out of there as there is no signage that states this. I am warning any other cruisers that come into Spanish Wells to dock that the locals are a bunch of piss ants! We got back to our boat and found that we had made the local Spanish Wells Facebook page where the locals were bitching about where we parked and how disrespectful it was to block the fuel dock. First, we did not park in front of the fuel dock we parked beside two other dinghies that were tied off. I explained on the Facebook page it was an honest mistake and that signage could help with this issue. There is also not a public dock for anyone to land their dinghy so maybe it is something they should look into if they are going to get so ass burnt about it. On the flip side I am sure the other businesses we visited that day appreciated us as we dropped $417 between groceries, alcohol, and eating out that day. It’s okay, I am going to pray for them anyway

There is another front moving in next week so we will be pulling up our anchor to head over to the Abaco’s. We will stage at Egg Island and make the sail over to Little Harbour. We have had some pretty awesome sunsets and moon risings.

It was time to leave Rock Sound as we needed to get to a staging area so we could time getting through Current Cut to make our way to Spanish Wells. It was a motoring day as we had light winds. Once again, the Bahamas weather only giving us a few days to see and explore before another “blow” comes through which requires us to seek shelter.

We made our way Mutton Fish Point to anchor for the night. It was a little rollie in the anchorage but it was beautiful scenery.

During our passage from Rock Sound to Mutton Fish Point, John on our buddy boat caught a mackerel. Tracey cooked it for dinner that night. Those of you who know me know that I struggle with eating fish. There cannot be any smell and I am more likely to try white meat fish than red. Before this trip I would not eat sushi, not saying that I enjoy it even now but I am trying to work on it. I can’t explain it, it is what it is.

At our age discussions of health and well-being are discussed. We whipped out the blood pressure machine and took everyone’s vitals. As it seems to be with other girlfriends, we are always the healthiest. Bubba and John flunked the test.

We would need to wake up early the next morning to time Current Cut so the waves, wind and tide were all working in our favor. This cut can rage if you do not approach it at the right time as the current came move really fast between the two islands. Luckily, we timed it just right and watched two monohulls go ahead of us. We passed the Glass Window on our way to the cut. On the way out of the cut we ran into our friends on B4Checkout who were headed to Governors Harbor to see the Glass Window and the Queens Bath with their guests on board. We have missed Sarah and David the last few months, so I was happy to see them even if it was from a distance.

It was a short sail to Spanish Wells from the Cut. Tracey and I both had 11:00 conference calls for work so we anchored in time to make our calls. We would anchor at Meeks Patch to hide out from the East winds that would be gusting at times to 19kts.

Along the way John was able to bring in another fish, a Mutton Snapper. I have heard from watching Life by the Bow on YouTube that these are pretty good eating.

Stay tuned for more adventures at Spanish Wells, Eleuthera.

I have found the Bahamian people to be very traditional, by this I mean Sunday is reserved for the Lord’s Day. Most businesses are closed and families are together at home or the beach fishing.

We rented a car so that we could get to some of the harder places to see by dinghy. John agreed to drive which in itself was an adventure. For those who have never visited an island most of them drive on the opposite of the road from us Americans and the steering wheel is on the opposite side of the car. The car had a nice sticker that reminded you to keep left.

We hopped in the car and began our pot hole dodging journey. I will say the roads in St. Thomas are a lot worse than the roads here. Considering most places were closed or did not open until after church services we just started out driving. The island is from North to South is only 100 miles long. I think we covered at least 75 miles of it.

Our first stop was in Governors Harbor. We found an interesting looking church and had to stop. It was after all Sunday and Palm Sunday at that.

There was a cool looking pink house nearby but I did not catch what it was.

From there we drove down to Hatchet Bay. Unfortunately, there was not much to see there other than the harbor. The entrance to this harbor looked a little sketchy however there were several boats anchored in it.

We ended up making our way to the very end of the island to the town of Current. Apparently, the diving in this area is judged amongst the top 10 dive sites in the world. It is also one of the fastest drift dives in the world because of the fast-racing flow that goes between the two islands. More on Current Cut later as we will have to pass through this area in order for us to get to Spanish Wells.

The drive along this area opens up to some beautiful views of the water. We stopped to visit one of the beaches we saw from the road.

One of our stops on our road trip was The Glass Window Bridge. It is one of the few places where you can compare the rich blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean to that of the Bight of Eleuthera (often incorrectly called the Carribean Sea). The bridge you go over is just 30 feet wide so only one car at a time. I must point out that structurally it is a bit iffy. There are several visible cracks to the foundation of it and when a dump truck rode across it when we were standing there it shook pretty good.

Our next stop was to visit the Hot Tub or Queens Bath. This area is a collection of natural pools that border the Atlantic Ocean and were formed over the years through the erosion of the rocks by the dramatic crashing of the waves from the Atlantic Ocean.

The water fills the holes as the tide moves out and is warmed by the sun creating a bath like temperature to enjoy.

We found our way back to the car to find our next adventure, drinks and lunch. We stopped at this super cool restaurant in Gregory Town called Daddy Joe’s. We sat at the bar and talked with the staff there. The background wall is hand painted signs with Bahamian sayings. We would ask what the sign meant and they would explain to us it’s meaning. For example, roach on your bread meant your partner was cheating on you.

We wrapped up the day with another beautiful sunset.

Since we arrived in Rock Sound the weather has been rocking the boat however it is finally starting to lay down some so it is time for us to rock it in Rock Sound. As of 2012 there was a population of 1,075 people. There is an airport in Rock Sound, the Rock Sound International Airport. Rock Sound is part of the Southern part of Eleuthera.

The attractions found here are The Ocean Hole and the Cathedral Caverns. We pulled our bikes out of their bags, put them in the dingy and headed over to the dinghy dock to unload them. Tracey and John joined in on the adventure as well.

First stop was The Ocean Hole. The Ocean Hole is a pond that is actually a blue hole. It is 600 feet deep and believe to be connected to the ocean through underground passages. The Ocean Hole was formed 300,000 years ago when the islands bedrock eroded. The ponds somewhat salty water has high mineral and sulphur content which many locals believe to have healing powers.

There are fish in the pond, you might see angelfish, parrotfish, sergeant majors and snappers.

We hopped back on our bikes and set out to find ocean side beach access. After a long ride we came up short and decided to try to find the Cathedral Caverns instead.

Before you get to the caves you pass the Boiling Hole. It too is a blue hole. It’s name is derived from the gas building up at the bottom and bubbling up to the surface. The water here is stagnant so there is no swimming.

A short walk past the pond is you will find the stairs that take you down into the caves.

After all the riding around we stopped by Frigate’s for drinks. Phyllis and Dave from Sol Veng had also come into town to provision and grab a bite to eat so we decided to go ahead and have a late lunch/early dinner as well.

Later that afternoon I had to meet a gentleman to take possession of a rental car that we were going to use the next day. While I waited for the guy to show up, I walked back down one of the streets we cycled down that was very colorful. I stopped to talk to the artist that was responsible for the artwork. He was super nice and generous in sharing information for our road trip the next day.

Later that evening we were treated to a beautiful sunset.

We said a silent goodbye to the chartered yacht in front of us. I was a little disappointed no one invited us over to play with all of their toys. I am also happy to be away from them because of all of their toys and their guests zipping around our boat on them. Usually, the mega yachts get further away from the normal anchorage but they had young kids on board so they may have opted for calmer waters.

We left Big Major at 6:45 to make our way around to Staniel Cay to go through the cut to the outside. The cut was not too bad but there was definitely a strong current there that wanted to let you know it was still in control if it wanted to be.

On the outside the sea state was a little rollie. There was a small squall that was passing by which was making the sea state and the wind unsettled.

Our passage would be pretty uneventful. We knew it was going to be a motoring day because the winds were expected to be flat. We set out across the ocean to reach Rock Sound.

Late morning the winds died as the small squalls passed us by. The dogs settled in and Bubba got his nap. I worked on various work issues in between helm changes with Bubba. The last hour seemed to take forever. When we finally arrived, I was ready to drop anchor!

When we arrived at the anchorage we were welcomed by a small shower and a rainbow.

The next day while Tracey and I worked, the boys got their bikes out and went for a ride. Later that evening we got off the boat and had dinner with the Potters at the Wild Orchid. The restaurant was an old Bahamian styled house. It has it’s own dinghy dock and water access. The food was not horrible but I had hoped for better service. Our shrimp fettucine was supposed to come with garlic toast but even after asking for it I never received it or even a follow up to say they were out. John had requested an additional ketchup and never received it. The flies were also really aggressive once our food arrived.

Remember that bad weather I told you we were expecting, well it finally arrived on Thursday. We made a quick run to the grocery store to pick up some provisions and got caught in the first squall that came over. Later that morning Dwight and Shelly came into the anchorage from Cape Eleuthera Marina and Scott and Amie on Mon Amie came in during the afternoon.

The wind picked up pretty strong at times during the afternoon, we saw gusts of 25 knots. Now we wait the storms out on our boats and pray that the anchors on the other boats around us do their jobs. So far so good!

When we arrived at Big Major we really did not have a plan in place for our next destination. There was another weather front that would be pushing through, yet again so wherever we went we had to take this into perspective.

On Sunday morning our friends Chris and Sue on 44 Cross and on Monday morning Phyllis and Dave on Sol Veng left out for their next anchorage.

While John, Dale and the gang from Sisu went searching for lobster and fish we headed over to Staniel Cay Yacht Club to drop trash and grab a bite to eat. We stopped by to see Shelley and Dwight on 10-7 Freedom on our way in. Dwight mentioned they were going to head over to Rock Sound next as a jumping point to get back to the US. Rock Sound is part of the Eleuthera island chain which is the next island that was on our list. I would later discuss this plan with John, and we would agree to join Shelley and Dwight for this crossing. But, before I jump the gun, let’s talk about BACON. Ok, not really about bacon but any time I see a pig that is what I think of. We made a swing by the famous pig beach to see the fat, well fed piggies one more time.

On the way back to our boat from Pig Beach we swung by John and Tracey’s to see how the hunting expedition went. John got one lionfish that he was cleaning, and the nurse shark was enjoying a feast with the leftovers.

If you look at the picture above I am not taking a picture of the shark. Sailing Sisu was also back from the hunt, and they were pulling out of the anchorage to begin their journey to Staniel Cay to drop off their guests.

Later that evening we would enjoy lobster rolls courtesy of Dale and Debbie and sundowners on John and Tracey’s boat along with few games of Mexican Train.

On Monday morning we dropped the dinghy to make one last trip over to Staniel Yacht Club to provision the boat with fresh produce and diesel.

On Tuesday we will be making our passage over to Rock Sound so we got the dogs off the boat one more time to go to the beach to stretch their legs. The adults enjoyed some beach time also until the no seeums got out of control!

We headed back to the boat to cook dinner, enjoy the sundown and finish last minute housekeeping before our early morning departure from Big Majors. I can’t remember which store I picked up this Tony C’s jambalaya from but let me tell you, hot damn it was so good. I used andouille sausage in it, put more water in it than it called for and made a cheater gumbo out of it. We both had two small bowls of it and Bubba finished the rest of the following day during passage. This will definitely be a staple item in the cabinet going forward!

The guys got up early to take a stab at bringing home some fresh caught food. Bob, John and Chris hopped in the dinghy and headed over to a coral head that John had found when he was at this anchorage earlier this year. Unfortunately, there were no lobsters, but John did kill a Lionfish that is an invasive species which preys on the smaller fish an ultimately ends up killing the reefs. Lionfish are poisonous if one of their little things prick you. There is a special way to handle them, and John had the gloves to do it. I might also add that they are tasty to eat.

After the boys fishing expedition, we got the boats ready for our next adventure. We would be staying on the inside of the Exuma chain to make our way to Big Majors by Staniel Cay. We were at Staniel Cay in December, so this was not a new destination for us. It was however our first time to go from Cave to Staniel on the inside. There are some pretty shallow spots, so you definitely want to time it with a high tide. I would end up going the same route as Bob while John and Chris opted to go a little further and get into a little deeper water. We made it through with no problems.

Arriving at Staniel Cay was familiar so we knew exactly where we needed to go.

Once we got to the anchorage it began to fill up with friends who were also Leopard owners. Petro and Frik from Sailing Sisu were already there with their guests who are future Leopard owners. Dave and Phyllis from Sol Veng were also there on their Leopard 45. Bruce and Sara who were one of the firsts to get the Leopard 42 pulled in about 30 minutes ahead of us. Our floatilla of boats pulled in and then shortly after Dale and Debbie from Moko Kat also joined us. Shelley and Dwight from 10-7 Freedom also arrived at Staniel but they grabbed a mooring ball by the marina because they had friends in from Iowa.

Later that evening we would all enjoy sundowners on Sailing Sisu.

Later that evening we got back to the boat and enjoyed the lights from all of the Mega Yachts that were in the anchorage. Alot of chartered yachts visit Staniel Cay due to it’s close proximity to Nassau.

While we hated to leave George Town, the wind was calling, and we needed to begin our journey North so that we could get back to Georgia to Brunswick Landing Marina. We would be joined by our friend Bob on his power cat who would be ensuring us that the narrow cut was deep enough for us to get through out of hole 2. Later that day, Chris, Sue, and their pup Finnigan would also be leaving hole 2 and would join us at Cave Cay.

It was bit rollie coming out of the cut there in George Town, so I had to sit with the dogs until it smoothed out a bit. Once the waves calmed down the dogs got comfortable in their favorite spots.

We needed to time our entry into Cave Cut to ensure we did not have a rage with the wind and tide. We slowed down for a bit, so we did not get there too soon. When we slowed down Tess and I were able to enjoy lounging on the front of the boat.

We had the fishing pole out with high hopes of catching a mahi-mahi. No luck on the mahi- mahi but we did catch a barracuda.

Tracey and John were out there with us taking on the wind as was several other boats. Bob was further ahead of us in his power cat. He would arrive at Cay Cut a little too early to go through the cut without experiencing the rage. He said it was a gnarly booger going through it.

This was our first time at Cave Cay, and I would easily go back there again. We were feeling really blessed to have such an easy-going passage. Spirits were high as we anchored. I reflected on what it was like when we made our way South in December, the experience was nerve wracking. Now I am more confident in reading the weather, the tides, and plotting our routes. Don’t get me wrong, it is still nerve wracking but in a different way.

Chris and Sue would arrive about an hour after we did. We enjoyed sundowners on John and Tracey’s boat and mapped out the plans for the next day.

We spent a little over two months in George Town. We grew close to our neighbors and will miss them all dearly. Before we left, we were treated to a fantastically delicious vegan based meal by Dean. It was no doubt one of the best meals we have had so far! I don’t believe I ate that much food the entire time we were there. It was an awesome evening of food, fun and fellowship with all.

We also could not leave Hole 2 anchorage without a little excitement. To give a lay of the anchorage, John and Tracey were in front of us, and there was a Fountaine Pajot 42ft catamaran in front of them. The FP catamaran broke loose from its mooring and was traveling into the back of the mooring field. Winds were gusting a minimum of 15 knots and it was drizzling rain. Tracey saw it as it began to make its way and alerted the anchorage with her blow horn. All of our neighbors sprang into action getting into their dinghies to help. Bubba and John were able to get on the FP and get it cranked. It did come in contact with the trawler next to us but there was no serious damage.

Finding the right weather window to leave Hole 2 was a challenging one. We thought we were going to leave on a Tuesday however Mother Nature advised us that she would not let us leave until Friday. Wind, Wind, and more Wind was keeping us as well as the tide tables. We needed a high tide to get out of Hole 2 as there is a narrow cut, we had to go through to get to the main channel. No problem, that gave us time for one last going away party with our hole 2 family.

Our dinghy is our transportation to land however once on land we need a way to get around if walking is not an option. Space is constrained and charging a battery for an electrical powered battery bike is a premium, so we opted for the following items to help us be get around town:

Bubba and I both got one. Check out the link to the item on Amazon here:

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We needed to protect our bikes because let’s face it there is no getting away from salt water or salt air. Below are the bags I purchased to store our bikes in:

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Since we were going to be in remote placing where maybe air pumps would not be available, I bought a small portable air tank. Yes, we have had to use this once when we were in Bimini. Bubba laughed at me when I bought it but it was worth it.

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Of course, I needed to accessorize my bike. I needed a way to be hands free so I could steer yet hold my stuff. I also needed to make sure my booty was comfortable, so I picked up a padded seat.

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If you like any of these items just click on the link and we will get a small monetary incentive from Amazon through their affiliate marketing program which will help fund Bubba’s beer and rum consumption.

Cheers!

As it goes here in the Bahamas at least once a month we get a really good blow that comes through which produces squalls and high winds. The blow will take place towards the middle of the week, so we need to make the most of the first part of the week as we won’t be able to do much across the way in George Town unless we want to get soaked crossing over.

It happens to be Spring Break week, so Tracey and John’s daughter Gianna is visiting. We load the snorkeling gear into the boat and set out to find a new spot to snorkel. The wind was blowing fairly well but it was not uncomfortable as we set out for the ride in the dinghy. After checking out a couple of sites we decided to go to Hoopers Bay to see the sea turtles again. The turtles here have been trained to come to the boat, just put your hand in the water and splash the water around. While we were there a tour boat came up and the turtles immediately went over to them as they had the “good stuff”, sardines.

Now that the turtles were full of sardines and no longer interested in us we decided to find another spot to try to snorkel. We stopped several places however none of them were productive. We decided to head back to the elkhorn spot even though it would potentially be a little sporty in the water. When we arrived, it was not too bad, so we anchored and spent a little time checking it out again.

On our way back from snorkeling we hit up Da Sand Bar for a cold libation and some jinga.

We met some guys at Da Sand Bar that were in town for Spring Break. One of guys Dad was there with them on his motor boat. They were from the University of Alabama so I just called them Alabama. We would run into them several times over two days. Here they are at the Exum Yacht Club where we went for dinner.

David on THESAILINGPIANO On the Water Concert and David’s Sailing Piano Bar did another music on the water night. We got to catch one more night of music before the winds picked up and shifter. One of the YouTube channels we have watched over the last two years, Sailing SV OliLuki – YouTube, rafted up with us and several other Leopard owners.

Now we wait out the blow that is raging through the islands. We saw some pretty high winds here at hurricane hole 2 however the boats in the harbor were getting rocked pretty hard, some cruisers reporting over 40 knots of wind. Unfortunately, the wind will be with us through the weekend but next Tuesday and Wednesday are looking like solid weather windows for us to make a jump North towards Staniel Cay so we can prepare to head over to Spanish Wells on the island of Eleuthera. It is time for us to say goodbye to the place we have called home since January. Cruisers refer to George Town as Velcro because it grows on you, and you don’t want to leave. We have met so many wonderful people that we are truly blessed to call friends. We can’t wait to watch their continued adventures.

When we were dreaming about moving on board a boat and setting sail, we would watch a lot of You Tube channels to gain insight into what we should expect and what we needed on board. I would write the items down in a “someday” notebook in case the dream ever came true. When we finally made the jump and bought the boat, I was so glad I had kept notes. It does not mean I necessarily bought what I wrote down, but it did give me an idea for what I thought I would need.

As soon as the papers were signed, I began the process of slowly buying and storing stuff for the boat. I did not want to take a lot of things from our home as we would be coming back to it from time to time to stay. We also needed things that would be more compact as there is not a lot of storage space on the boat.

As you can imagine the list of items purchased is rather large, so I am going to break it into categories, so it is not a buffet list of items. I will start with the galley, as this is definitely the most constricted space. I love my collapsible silicone bowls; I think I may have to get rid of my Rubbermaid bowls at home and replace them with these.

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Our galley does not have any fans in it so on days when there is no wind, or it is raining you are miserable. My friend Sarah loaned me her fan by this brand to use and it was so awesome I bought three of them. They are battery powered and you can charge via a USB plug. I also use them in my bedroom for air circulation. They can hang or sit on their base. These would be great for camping! They run for a long time and put out a lot of air to be so small.

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The floor of the boat has storage for food. There are little holes in the floor for you to stick your finger into in order to raise the board. Having two dogs on board means there is a lot of hair that ends up going into the holes. The grommets below help to keep a lot of the hair and sand out and make it easy to lift the board.

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Next on my list is clothes pins or if you are Bubba, you use them as chip clips. I love these! They are heavy duty, durable and have held up to saltwater conditions.

When it comes to cooking, I use my Duxtop Portable Induction cooktop. We have been on the boat since August, and I have yet to use the gas stove top and gas oven. I know, it seems crazy but so far it has worked out.

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In full disclosure, I bought several more galley related items than what is pictured here however these are the items that I use every day. I bought a bread machine but have only used it once on the boat while we were at the marina and ended up taking it back home during trip back to Arkansas because I did not think I would use it while we were away from the marina.

I just recently began using my Aero Garden to grow some lettuce and tomatoes. I think I am in third week of growing. The jury is still out on whether or not this is a viable solution for fresh veggies on a boat. The prices of fresh produce have not been terribly horrible in George Town, Bahamas but they are much more expensive than US prices.

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If any of these items strike your fancy just click on the link it will take you to the item on Amazon. When you purchase from the link it gives us a little money to help keep Bubba’s beer supply going.

The week started off slow with regatta wrapping up. Bubba took advantage of the water being calm and clear. The zincs on our Yanmar engines were not horribly bad but we wanted to take advantage of conditions we were in.

We enjoyed another outdoor concert on the water.

We played a little Mexican train one evening with John and Tracey.

Our weekend picked up with things to do. We celebrated Debbie’s birthday at the Rusty Anchor. It was a sporty day getting across the channel to February Point where the Rusty Anchor is located but was so worth it! We had an awesome time celebrating Debbie and hanging out with our friends.

The resort Beach Club at February Point is a beautiful spot. I could sit there by the pool all day looking out at the beautiful blue shallow waters.

We caught up with our neighborhood cruisers for an afternoon party on the beach. Our neighborhood is shrinking as some leave to begin the journey back to the US. One of our neighbors was actually leaving to the BVI for the survey and inspection of a Leopard 45 catamaran.

Sunday morning, we went to beach church. After beach church we came back to the boat and did a few projects before heading over to Chat N Chill to see sweet Lil Lois before she and her husband Dominic begin their journey back to the US. Lois has a health journey ahead of her as she will probably begin dialysis when she returns. The dogs also enjoyed being off the boat for a bit.

We wrapped up Sunday with some new table linens and lobsters we bought from a local fisherman when we were in Bimini.

Our time here in George Town is beginning to come to a close as well. We will probably be here for another week and half as we await a weather window to leave. Tracey and John’s daughter Gianna is here this week visiting for Spring Break. We will enjoy this last week and then begin our slow adventure back North making our way to Spanish Wells, Eleuthera and then the Abacos.

While we were several islands away and could not be there to support our friends Shelley and Dwight for their first 10-7 Freedom Retreat down in Staniel Cay. Ten-Seven Retreat is a nonprofit organization that provides all-expense paid retreat to the Bahamas for the spouses and children of fallen Oklahoma police officers. Go to tensevenretreat.org for more details. Dwight and Shelley have a fun time planned with the kids. A big highlight was the Bahamian Police Force taking the kids out for a spin on their boat. Thank you to our friend David for capturing the photos from yesterday and sharing them with us.

We kicked off the week with more Regatta events. Bubba played in the fun volleyball tournament on Tuesday morning and later played poker where he won the tournament.

While I waited for Bubba to return from poker I was able to get some really good photos of one of the many turtles we have in our anchorage. These guys don’t stay up for long. It just so happened there was zero wind and I had walked to the door to shut it because it was getting close to no seeum and mosquito time. When I went to close the door I spotted this guy munching on the mooring line.

On Wednesday Bubba and Debbie headed over to the beach near Monument to play beach golf.

Meanwhile back at the boat I am fighting fires with one of the companies I work with. I won’t bore you with the nonsense, I might just be getting too old to deal with retail bullshit any more.

Later that afternoon we joined the other cruisers to check out the Dress Like Your Boat Costume Party.

On Thursday was the Big Boat race around the island. I think I read that it was an 18 mile sail around. We did not participate. Bubba did errands that morning and played cards in the afternoon. He was not lucky enough to win this tournament. He blamed it on me because he had to get back in time to take me across the way to get the laundry. Tess was happy to have the bed linens back so she could have a made bed to sleep in.

Bubba signed me up for the Paddle Board race on Friday morning. After the week I had I was tired and the wind had picked up so I decided to set the race out and get some stuff done around the boat as I answered emails as they came in. Later that afternoon we headed over to the beach behind our boat for Hurricane Hole 2 birthdays. It’s always fun getting together with our neighbors.

Hip Hip Hooray for Saturday! Finally a day off from work, time to get off the boat and have some fun. I decided to pop open a bottle of Prosecco and enjoy some time on the front of the boat in my bean bag chair. I later hitched a ride with Tracey and John over to Chat N Chill to watch the Coconut Challenge. It was hilariously funny to watch and fun to cheer the teams on. Here is the gist of the challenge: Boaters must remove motors from Dinghies. Boaters can only use flippers like for snorkeling for their propulsion through the water. Boaters must try to retrieve as many coconuts from the water that they can in a certain amount of time. There was even a golden coconut (actually it was painted white).

After the Coconut Challenge we went back to the boat, grabbed some snacks, and played Mexican train. I won the first round, I think Bubba won once or twice and John as well.

At 4:00 we went to the ARG (Alcohol Research Group) meeting. Basically a bunch of cruisers meet at the beach, bring drinks, bring snacks and chat with each other. It is a great way to meet new people,

Saturday night got a little scary. There was no wind, not a ripple to the water, and we were at slack tide. Our boat and John/Tracey’s boats turned stern to stern and our solar panel array were touching each other. It was a crazy situation as we have been in this location for almost two months and this is the first time this has happened. Every boat was pointing in a different direction. We are going to have more light winds this coming week so we will have to watch this closely.

Sunday morning we got up and went to beach church. We then headed out to do some snorkeling. The snorkeling was awesome, could have used some more fish but the elkhorn made up for it.

We left this spot and went over to call the turtles at Hooper’s Bay. We pulled up to the beach front and began splashing the water and sure enough two turtles approach the boat.

We left there and headed over to Da Sand Bar to quench our thirst after all of the snorkeling.

We enjoyed the water at Da Sand Bar and then hopped in the dinghy to head over to a bar/restaurant called Splash. The boys had visited this place during their dinghy poker run. The food was good and the Splash drink we had was also good.

It was a great way to end the weekend!

The big event is happening in George Town, the much anticipated George Town Regatta. Several of our boating friends are back in the harbor to join in on the events. The weather has given us a break and the wind is not blowing like crazy so we have taken advantage of it.

The pre-Regatta week events began with sundowners and finger food with our boat neighbors. We have some of the best boat neighbors you can ask for. Everyone pitches in and helps each other without hesitation.

I have not used our washing machine on board since we first got the boat in August 2021. Our marina in Brunswick had free laundry as part of our stay so it was always much easier and convenient to do it there. When I finally got ready to use it again it was not cooperating. After contacting Splendide’s support team I found out that it has something to do with our electrical. If you recall from my previous posts last year we had electrical issues starting the 2nd week we had the boat. I feel confident that this issue is related to the previous wiring issues. For the meantime we have a work around but man does it suck to have to constantly find work around on a boat that costs so much money and is brand new. It would be one thing if this boat was the first one off the production line but we were number 43. They should have the building of this model of boat down to an art by now.

Last Sunday was absolutely beautiful so we hopped in our dinghies and headed over to the ocean side to stretch our legs.

Later that afternoon we headed over to Chat N Chill to play mexican train and visit with everyone.

We ventured out on President’s Day to try our hand at lobster huntng. Unfortunately for us the waves were huge coming into the channel and the current was rather strong. John (2) and Christina hopped in the water and did some diving down but the reef looked to be picked over. We cut the trip short as I needed to get back to work and they continued to another spot where one lobster was caught.

Another night of live music from the Piano Man in front of Monument.

The first official event of the regatta was the dinghy poker run. Bubba and John had a lot of fun while Tracey and I both worked.

On Saturday the in harbor race took place. Several different classes of boats participated. We did not join in on the race but were spectators cheering them on from our dinghy. John from our buddy boat was part of the crew on Ethan’s boat Kumbaya. Unfortunately they did not finish the race as they ran aground onto a sandbar. All was not lost, Ethan made out pretty good with two bottles of booze and bragging rights to naming the shoal he ran aground after him.

Later that afternoon we headed over to George Town for the after racing party at Peace N Plenty followed by dinner at the Exuma Yacht Club.

Sunday morning we attended beach church. Bob and Tracey did an excellent job in leading the reading and message. After church we stayed back for the kids event which was building conch horns and knot tying. Me, Debbie and Tracey had fun trying to figure out how to tie knots that the men can’t get out of when we throw them overboard!

The conch shell with the end removed is the one we made a horn into. Every night you can hear other cruisers blow their conch horn as a means to communicate the sun is almost set.

After the kids (and big kids) festivities ended we enjoyed a lunch over at the Snappy Turtle and then walked the beach on the ocean side. It was a beautiful calm day!

Later that evening our boat neighbors Christina and John stopped by to share the fruits of their labor for the day. The lobster tail below was small in comparison to the other one they caught. This dude was a beast. So thankful they thought of us!

It’s Monday morning so it’s time to start a new work week and week 2 of Regatta festivities. The wind does not pick back up again until Thursday which means the no seeums will be out in full force. Stay tuned for more adventures.

There was an ARG meeting this week here in George Town that we had to check out. ARG is short for Alcohol Research Group, I think. Basically, it a formal calling for an informal beach party to socialize with other cruisers in the harbor. I think there were close to 100 dinghies that showed up at this particular beach.

Earlier that afternoon Bubba got the opportunity to finally meet in person one of the guys that he has basically watched every week for the last year and a half on You Tube. Frik and Petro have a You Tube sailing channel called Sailing Sisu, go check them out. It was great to catch up with them and have them our boat to compare the differences in their Leopard and ours.

The week had been pretty miserable as the weather was cloudy and gusty all week. Tracey and John had guests that was soon be heading back to the USA so we wanted to send them off with one last fun memory.

We jumped in the dinghy and headed over to Da Sand Bar for some beach time and some libations. The wind was blowing like crazy, but the beach was beautiful. Unfortunately, the guy behind the bar was not that friendly and the drinks were $15.00 each and not that great. We have yet to find a beach bar that competes with Soggy Dollar, Hendo’s Hideout or Foxy’s.

Lunch was on our minds, so we loaded up our dinghies and headed across the Harbour to Fish Camp. The ride over was a wet one and the whole way over Bubba would say this is a bad idea, this is a bad idea. At one point he stopped and wanted to abort the mission. I convinced him we were halfway there, so he put on his big boy pants, and we kept going.

We have eaten at Shirley’s once before and it did not disappoint this time. Our service was excellent, and my seafood quesadillas were really good.

Our new friends Barry and Nikki from Momentum 42 also joined us. Barry and Nikki also have the same model Leopard as we do.

You never know what you might find here in the Bahamas. Rooftop jam sessions, dinghy raft up and a guy with a piano/keyboard on the back of his boat.

Live music is always a good time. As Valentine’s night approached the winds were still calm so we loaded up the dinghy and headed over to Monument for some live music. Tracey and John would join us for the show.

It was a fun evening on the water! Yes, I have jacket and sweatpants on. The last few days have been on the chilly side here as the winds have cooled things off.

We provisioned the boat well prior to leaving Florida. The pantry, freezer and bar were stocked well. We knew finding the things we enjoy back in the US would be harder to find in the Bahamas and if we did it would be much more expensive. Our trips to the grocery store here in the Bahamas is typically for the fresh stuff however I have just recently plugged in my countertop garden pot. It will be interesting to see how well this gadget works, stayed tuned for updates on the success of growing veggies in one of these.

We are currently on a mooring ball in Hurricane Hole 2 here in Stocking Island across from the St. Francis resort and near the beach bar Chat N Chill. To reach a grocery store we have to drop the dinghy and go across the Elizabeth Harbour to George Town. On a flat day with little wind it is not a bad ride however for the last month and half we typically get maybe two days out of the week that the wind is not gusting. Timing the trips to George Town are critical otherwise you arrive drenched in salt water.

Valentine’s Day just happened to be the first day in several days we did not high gusting winds. We had to go early in the morning as I had a lot of meetings that afternoon. In addition to picking up fresh groceries we also had to take trash out and get more diesel and dinghy gas.

Stocking Island has the best grocery store we have found yet as we have hopped islands here in the Bahamas. We were in luck on this day as they had pretty much all of the fresh items we needed.

Pricing on items here are not as high as some of the outer islands have been. Here are some receipts to get an idea for the costs of groceries in the Bahamas.

Getting to the grocery store is kind of cool. There is a little bridge you have to go under that is in between two buildings.

We had a pretty decent wind storm Saturday night followed by a nice rain storm early Sunday morning. Nothing quite like being woken from a dead sleep to spring out of bed to close all of the open windows on the boat. Last night was a rare night in that we were able to keep the windows open. We usually have to shut everything by 6:00 due to the no seeums that hang out in the mangroves that surround our boat. This next week is going to blow, literally and physically as we have more wind headed our direction with some pretty solid gusts.

I spent Sunday morning trying to compile information for taxes. This is something I am going to sincerely dread again this year. For lunch we joined John and Tracey along with their guests at Chat N Chill for their pig roast, $25 a plate with tip. The food was disappointing but the company was awesome.

After lunch we headed over to the Art Trail to check it out. Basically this is a trail that cruisers have created and placed various pieces of boat art work. There is also a cruisers shack there on the beach. I donated a hard hat that I found at Black Point and painted

In all I think we hiked close to 2 miles and 6,500 steps. We hiked from the Harbour side over the island to the ocean side and around the island back to our dinghy.

The trail opened up to a beautiful view of the ocean.

There is always something on a boat to be cleaned. We have a alot of stainless pieces on board so once a month I try to tackle it in sections.

Once work and chores are done I try to enjoy a couple of hours a day doing something fun. Afterall, all work and no play makes me grouchy. We headed over to Chat N Chill and ran into Lucey and Caila who were back after a sail over to Cat Island. Lucey is responsible for the awesome photos.

When we are not at Chat N Chill we are enjoying sundowners on our fellow cruisers boats.

This past week we finally got enough courage up to light the grill on the back of the boat. We cooked steaks. The last time we had steaks was at Rudder Cay on the beach with B4Checkout, Sarah and David. I was impressed with how quickly it heated up and how evenly it cooked. Special shoutout to Bob and Anita on Discovery who snagged the small propane canisters for us.

Looking back it feels like we did alot of eating this past week. I also made Carribean Chicken over Alfredo one night.

We were also treated to a delicious meal over on La Gra, Ryan and Denise’s 45 ft Leopard. The meal was delicious and they went above and beyond on the meal and the Painkillers was a nice added touch. It made me miss the BVI and USVI even more.

Bubba worked some of the food off this week at yoga on the beach while I worked.

He also participated in a jam session at the beach with some of the other cruisers.

Bubba keeps busy with the other cruisers playing Mexican Train on the beach at Chat N Chill.

Fast forward to the weekend where I try to find balance in boat projects and fun. Saturday was spent cleaning the Eisen glass around the helm station, windows and endless dog hair that had accumulated on the back of the sugar scoops. We then headed over to Chat N Chill to see what was happening over there.

Meanwhile the dogs hung out on the boat. They did get to make a trip to Chat N Chill on Friday.

Stay tuned for our Sunday adventure!

As it goes here in the Bahamas every few days you get a blow that causes you to have to hunker down so to speak. For most cruisers this usually means you get to work on boat projects and we did just that on Saturday morning. After boat projects were done we hopped in Bob’s dinghy with Tracey and John and headed over to the beach behind us to hike the trail up to Salt Monument.

Other cruisers have built a path through the lush foilage and rock/sand bottom. We would also have to cross beaches along the way.

Salt Monument stands at 200 feet above sea level, dominating the highest point of the three-mile island of Stocking Island. It is quite the trek to get to the top yet so rewarding when you get there. The view across Elizabeth Harbour is beautiful.

The ocean side is equally as beautiful!

What makes this hike so incredible is the variety of the terrain from beaches, hidden coves to sand dunes to salt flats to shaded paths and full canopy of dry tropical forest.

Work has been stupid crazy this week. It is exhausting trying to work through the politics to make things happen. Over the last 5 years I have never woken up in the morning and dreaded having to go to work however this is all changing.

It was time to get off the boat and have some fun. We tagged along with Shelley and Dwight to head over to Brown’s marina. Neither Bubba or I had been there yet so it was nice to go with someone who knew where it was. They had a little bit of everything in the store.

As we made our way we came to the bridge that I have heard several people say doesn’t belong there because of the way it looked. I thought it was beautifully done.

We then headed into George Town center to grab a bite to eat at the Driftwood Cafe. Bubba and I shared a meat lovers pizza. I stuck my head in a couple of the shops but did not see anything that I could not live without, especially with the price tags on some of the clothing!

We made a stop by the Exuma market to pick up some grocery items and then headed back to the boat for me to catch up on work.

Later in the afternoon we joined Tracey and John for some beach time at Chat N Chill.

Today, Saturday, we brace the wind that is blowing through the island.

The crew would see me off to the airport that Monday afternoon. It would be a long day of travel for me as my flight did not arrive NWA until midnight. I was hoping to grab a bite to eat however the restaurant did not open quite in enough time to have food ready so I enjoyed a few beers instead.

I felt bad because I was leaving Bubba alone to ride out a big blow. We have tested our anchor out in 23 knots of wind but never anything as strong as 30+. We were blessed to have our friends here that could help out as well as provide adult supervision for Bubba in my absence.

To be on the safe side Bubba and John opted for a mooring ball in one of the hurricane holes just north of Chat n Chill. This would provide the necessary protection from the wind and waves that were expected. B4Checkout would be moving to a nearby marina and MokaKat would be moving as well for protection. With blow plans in place it was time to enjoy the day.

Unfortunately not everyone was having a great day though! The day after I left for Arkanas a nice sized yacht caught on fire. Luckily no one was on board and they were able to get it away from the docks.

As it would go I return from Arkansas with a bug! It took Bubba no time to catch it himself. For the next week we would be shut in and stuck on the boat. All I can say is there are worst places to be sick.

We finally had a little energy and loaded us and the pups up in the dinghy to attend a rooftop jam session.

Sunday was looking to be a pretty good day. There was alot of talk about the next blow coming in later in the week. I was preparing to leave out for Arkansas the next morning to see my Mom who had recently fallen, broken her hip, had surgery and was not in a rehab facility to do her physical therapy.

Today would be one of the last days I got to spend with B4Checkout for awhile as they would have family coming in for the next several weeks and would be hopping islands and showing their guests around.

We were in search of a new place to grab a bite to eat and enjoy the beach. We opted for Peace N Plenty which was just south of Chat N Chill.

It is a beautiful spot that is adjacent to the Kahari boutique resort. The food and drinks were over priced for what we got but that is what happens when you at a boutique resort.

The beach is pretty shallow out in front of the resort so you really have to watch the tidal change.

There are several of these bungalow type huts available. I looked up the prices online to stay here and it is way outside of our budget, $750 a night!

It was time to make our way a little further South to get a little closer to George Town. We had one more stop to make though before making it there. We would stop at Lee Stocking for two nights to wait out a little weather that was happening on the outside of our protected shelter.

As it goes with cruising you catch up to boats that you know. Sam, Caila and Lucey from the Flying Whale were in the anchorage just behind us. Dale and Debbie on MokaKat were further in front of us and B4Checkout who made the journey with us was just right across from us in the anchorage. We did not get off the boat to explore. Work was back in full swing for me so there was very little free time. Coming back from a long holiday week(s) means everyone catching up on what they had put off.

When we left out of Ray Cay Cut we knew we had a chance of showers in the forecast. Luckily we were able to skirt around all of the rain that was happening. When we pulled out of the cut it was us and B4Checkout with the Flying Whale in our distance as they went out of the Lee Stocking Cut instead.

It wasn’t long before I looked up and saw that what was the 3 of us was now more like a total of 12 with those in the distance.

It was work to get enough wind in the jib to help us sail. The wind was coming at a 30 degree angle and there wasn’t a whole lot of it. So once again we were motor sailing in order to out run the storm coming up from behind us.

As we pulled into Elizabeth Harbour I did a happy dance. While I did not have an agenda for our trip in the Bahamas I did know that George Town would be the furthest South I wanted to go. We pulled into beautiful waters with close to 175 boats in the harbour. George Town is the cruisers capital so to speak. This is the last real “civilization” for those heading further South to Turks and Caicos and on to the USVI/BVI and Grenada.

We had several other Leopard boat friends already in George Town so we parked close to them and got situated. It was super hot with zero wind moving through the air so we lowered the dinghy and went to the beach to cool off. As soon as landed the dinghy there was a huge starfish there waiting to greet us.

That evening was the George Town Junkanoo festival. We grabbed some dinner at Shirley’s prior to the festivities.

We attempted to go to watch however due to rain that happned earlier that day it was delayed to later in the evening and it was past our bedtime. We did get to catch a glimpse of some of head dress and floats that would be used.

The following day, Saturday, we went into George Town to pick up some grocery items we were out of. When they headed over to the Chat N Chill for a burger and some fries.

Chat N Chill is cruiser central. They are known for their Conch Salad that they prepare fresh on the beach right in front of you. The bits and pieces of the conch that they don’t use is left on a table near the beach to feed the resident sting rays who wait for the table scraps of conch.

It was nice to get off the boat and grab a bite to eat. They have volleyball courts and baggo as well on the beach. There is also usually a group of cruisers playing dominoes.

Hands down Rudder Cay is one of my most favorite anchorages. The water, the landscape, and the beaches are beautiful. It is seriously a slice of heaven.

Us and B4Checkout were the first into the anchorage however we had another boat close on our tail. Unsure of where exactly we should anchor, we hesitated a bit too long and our new friends from Canada would swoop in to get a prime spot. Our spot wasn’t shabby however it was a little too close to the rock formation for my liking. It did offer a bird’s eye view of the cave but that came with a price of the local tourist boat operators zooming into area to swing by the cave to show the tourist they had on board. Some of these guys would barrel down with zero respect for us being anchored there.

As soon as we arrived the first order of business was finding the Mermaid with a full scale baby grand piano that David Copperfield commissioned. We got there before the rest of the crowds came in. The anchorage filled in pretty fast after we arrived.

The dogs had access to beautiful beaches that looked like they could be developed at any point in time. I could only imagine having a home here.

While the island is privately owned, we were allowed to go on it which was nice however not all islands are this way. B4Checkout packed their grill to the beach, and we had a cookout.

We would spend the next couple of days enjoying beach time, looking for turtles, snorkeling for lobsters and for me specifically, forgetting about work!

The sunsets were not too shabby either.

We wrapped up Christmas at Staniel Cay and made our way to Black Point. It was a short 5-mile trip. On the way there we got caught in a squall that made the entry into Black Point. MokaKat was directly in front of us and B4Checkout was behind us. Visibility was poor and made dropping the main a challenge.

The anchorage had good holding and a nice sandbar that appeared at low tide. The water here was beautiful. The laundry services are said to be the best in all of the islands. There were several restaurants on island however Lorraine’s is the legend on island.

One of the specialties to be found on Black Point is the coconut bread that Lorraine’s mom bakes up every day. Fresh coconuts are shucked, the meat removed and then cooked down to make the bread.

We decided to call Black Point home for several days and enjoy New Year’s Eve on island. We enjoyed rum punch at Scorpios where you can only drink two, a third would guarantee a hangover the next day.

We enjoyed a walk over to the beach side to check out the blow hole and wave action on the other side of the island.

The time between Christmas and New Year was pretty slow with work so we got to enjoy of few beach/water days in shallows not far from the boats. The dogs have really adapted to getting in the water. They love to go for a ride in the dinghy.

We spent New Year’s Eve at Scorpios and Lorraine’s. Our favorite bartender Shay got to meet Tess. We enjoyed an evening with new friends.

As hard as we tried, we did not make it to New Year’s but we gave it our best. The locals shot fireworks of at midnight. I was so tired that I just laid there and listened to them, I couldn’t even bother to look out the window. It was an awesome close to 2022.

There are a lot of ups and downs to living on a boat. It’s not all pretty water, beaches, sunsets and boat drinks. There are good days and bad days. Many days are a struggle. I try to find the positive in each day. Very thankful for the new friendships we have made as a result of having the boat. Much love to our new friends: Sarah and David, Shelley and Dwight, John and Tracey, Bob and Anita, Sharon and John, Ryan and Denise, Caila, Sam and Lucey, Michele and Debbie who we have met this year.

I am not sure what this next year holds for us. I do hope to have a little more time to explore, enjoy our friends, and soak up some sun and water time.

The wind over night had been on the sporty side and the boat swung alot in the wind. We both managed to get some sleep but you are still paranoid over the concern for losing your anchor holding, hitting another boat or smashing into land. I was up pretty early so I decided ham puffs were required for Christmas breakfast. We needed to run the generator anyway to get the batteries charged. It was afterall a Sunday morning so in the Spirit of Kenny Chesney I deemed it necessary to be a Mimosa Sunday on top of it also being Christmas. (My Kenny Chesney, No Shoes Radio listening friends will understand the significance of this.)

Ham puffs are a Pampered Chef recipe I learned over 20 years ago when I attended one of Martie Novak’s parties. It has been a staple at our house ever since. Here is a link to the recipe: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f0/ca/0e/f0ca0e8234ec94781fd7085d28a9597e.jpg

I use black forest ham and mexican blend cheese. I do not use the parsley that was recommended in the recipe. It is a really simple breakfast item to make.

After breakfast we would head over to the Yacht Club to drop off some trash and get off the boat. We also kind of wanted to get a lay of the land for our trip over and back later in the evening when there was no sun available.

The weather would be deterorating throughout the day and this was our chance to get out for a bit.

The nurse sharks were waiting for their Christmas brunch.

We waited at the yacht club for the rain to slack off and then headed back to the boat to freshen up and get ready for our Christmas dinner back at the yacht club.

The ride over in the dinghy to the Yacht Club was a damp one. The sky had cleared on our side of the island however the other side was still getting some rain. The wind was blowing pretty good as well which meant we were getting ocean spray as well. The food was delicious and the company around the table was memorable. The ride back from the yacht club to our boat was a little scary to do in the pitch dark with 20 mile an hour winds screaming in your face. We made it back safely and would spend the rest of the night swinging in the wind as some of the gusts were 30 mph.

Our plans are to spend one more day here at Staniel and then make our way on to Black Point. The weather this next week will continue to be on the sporty side with the winds blowing from the North/Northeast with some pretty good gusts to go along with it. Looks like we won’t be paddle boarding any time soon.

With Christmas winds moving in we decided to pick up anchor and move to an anchorage that was better protected from the North/Northeast winds that would be bringing Santa our way. The next anchorage would have a sandy bottom that would allow the anchor to set better. We waited for high tide to get out of our current anchorage and then made the one mile trek around the corner.

Our back drop would be Pig Beach, the home of the original swimming pigs. Bubba and I had watched this on several other cruisers Youtube channels so we were familiar with the concept. Since most of us have only see pigs in a farm enviornment it is hard to imagine a pig swimming. I have to say they are pretty darn good at it, so much so they are better swimmers than my two pups.

We brought the pigs carrots to eat but I saw them eating every celery and bread also so I am guessing they are not particular about what they receive as a treat.

We would return back to the boat to collect the dogs, some drinks and head over to Cruisers Beach to enjoy the afternoon weather.

We would wrap Christmas Eve up with a delcious pot luck dinner on our boat with B4Checkout and MokaKat.

So far our time in Staniel Cay had been spent with me balancing work and getting boat/life tasks done. With Christmas approaching the work chatter was getting lighter so I took the afternoon off to go have some fun. David located a couple of plane wrecks that we could snorkel and we planned a trip to the Thunderball grotto.

Both of the wrecks were in less than 6 foot of water. Both wrecks are located off Staniel Cay. One of the wrecks is a drug smugglers plan that ditched here during the Pablo Escobar drug running empire days back in the 70’s.

The story of the goes that a man called in on the radio line requesting help finding a dimly lit landing strip. Apparently back then they would use vehicles with their lights on to lite the runway. As the minutes passed, his voice got more urgent and he began speaking Spanish and less in English , saying he was running low on fuel.

As soon as the officials got the landing strip lite with car vehicles, the radio on the other end went silent. Officials feared it had run out of fuel before he could safely land.

In the morning the search party finally found the plane about ten miles off of Normans Cay, sunken with the two passengers still on board.

It turns out , it would have been impossible for them to escape the plane due to the space being packed with Marijuana. They are believed to have been drug runners from Colombia who made frequent stops on their routes to South America to Miami with illegal drugs.

We planned the airplanes first while we waited for low tide to enter the grotto.

The grotto is an underwater cave system made from limestonethat is like a fish aquarium when you get inside. It is a tourist location so it gets a little crowded on the inside.

Thunderball grotto got it’s name from the ever popular James Bond cinema series in the 1963 film Thunderball. It appeared again in a scene in the James Bond film Never Say Never.

Spotted this guy hanging out under the ledge as we made our way around to the main entrance of the grotto. One of the many nurse sharks in this vicinity of the marina. You can see several nurse sharks hanging out at the marina in front of the cleaning station the fisherman use to clean their catch. The nurse sharks know if they hang out long enough they will get fed.

When we set out for our sail our destination was originally Warderick Wells. We were making really good time as we had a lot of wind in our favor. To date we had never gotten the Gray Ghost sailing higher than 6.7 knots. On this day we actually exceeded that and got to 8.1 knots. This is a little faster than I prefer to go but the sea state was calm, so we were gliding through the water without a lot of bounce. The dogs were comfortable and not panicking so we kept the pace for as long as we could. In front of us we could see a squall so we knew the winds would be picking up more. B4Checkout would call ahead with concern of the impeding weather and winds picking up. After a bit of time, we would adjust accordingly.

The forecast was calling for rain pretty much for the next two days so we made the decision to abort the trip to Warderick Wells and go forward to Staniel Cay where MokaKat was on approach to. Staniel Cay had alot to offer so it was a good trade off. We could always come back to Warderick Cay on our way back to the US.

Staniel Cay is one of the cruisers hang outs. Staniel Cay along with it’s surrounding Cays offers protection from several different angles. There is a yacht club here, along with several tourist attractions like Thunderball Grotto and the swimming pigs, more to come on these locations.

We would spend the first night on the back side of the Majors in a protected channel. Once we were sure about our anchors we headed over to Cruisers Beach for sundowners

The channel was a quite a bit of ways away from the Staniel Cay Yacht Club. We had several things to take care of while we are at Staniel Cay so we move the boat to the anchorage closer to the yacht club. I affectionately call this anchorage the “Wrecking Ball”, cue the Miley Cirus song.

Our first day in the new anchorage was spent getting fuel, searching for fresh fruit and veggies and eating our first meal out in a while. We ate lunch at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club with B4Checkout and MokaKat as well as another couple that Dale knew, Lana and Robert from Sandbox a Lagoon 380.

The next day I visited the local laundry mat to catch up on clothes that were piling up since I last washed in Bimini. The drop off service was great option. The laundry mat was convenient to the marina and was also a bar and liquor store.

We could never get a good holding in the anchorage across from the Yacht Club. There is a strong current that flows through so when you pair that wind and the tide it made for a challenging stay. We were constantly checking the anchor and watching our anchor alarm.

It was time to get moving again. B4Checkout would depart before us from Hoffman Cay to make their way to Nassau. Sarah and David needed to drop off their guest David to catch his flight back to Canada and also secure a portable generator.

Instead of heading to Nassau with B4Checkout, we would buddy boat with Dale and Debbie to the next island over, Bond Cay to hide out from more weather headed our way. If there is anything you pick up from any of these posts it should be that so much of what we get to do or where we get to go is based on Mother Nature. We arrived at Bond Cay and hunkered down for the night.

After a few nights at Bond we made our way to Nassau to join B4Checkout at Rose Island. We would then make our way to Shroud Cay to grab a mooring ball and ride out more bad weather. Shroud Cay is part of the Exumas Cay Land and Sea Park. It was a bit rolly when we arrived so we decided to wait a day to do the dinghy ride through the mangroves.

10-7 Freedom Retreat arrived later in the day. Dwight and his wife Shelley are from Oklahoma and have the same boat as we have. They too have dogs on board, 3 of them. It is fun to hear them pull into the anchorage because you can hear the dogs bark. The following day we would join the 10-7 Freedom gang along with B4Checkout for a dinghy run through the mangroves. The first pass was early in the morning at low tide. This pass was a little challenging as the water was pretty shallow. We would go back later in the afternoon for a pass when the tide was higher and the sun was out.

The wind direction was changing so it was time for us to move along and seek protection in the next anchorage at Hoffman’s Cay. Several other cats were leaving that morning so we figured they must know something we didn’t. Turns out we all ended up at Hoffman’s Cay together.

The sail was a short 28 miles around Great Stirrup Cay (where the cruise ships come in) and directly down the coastline. We led the way up until the very end with B4checkout breezed past us to guide us into the anchorage.

The cut coming into the anchorage was a little nerve rattling. The water is very shallow in this anchorage in places so you have to watch the depth closely. We would end up running aground trying to turn around to get positioned in the anchorage. It wasn’t too bad just the front onto a shifting sandbar.

This experience is nerve racking. Being in close quarters with each other and the dogs is nerve racking. Being unsure about what you are doing is nerve racking. As I looked in the mirror this morning I could not help but notice the extra gray hairs coming in and some deeper wrinkles. While the blue water, blue skies and beaches are awesome, there is a ton of stress to this. Couple that with I may be faced with finding a new way to earn an income. All of it takes a toll on you and there are days that only tears seem to make it all better.

The high note is we have met incredible people to share this journey with. The sundowners, dinners on board, and beach trips are a nice trade off. So beach it is! I had a small window on Friday to be able to hop off the boat to explore for a bit. So we jumped in the dinghy with the dogs and followed B4checkout in their dinghy over to the Blue Hole. We have seen this before on videos we have watched from other cruisers so we had an idea for what it was all about. I do not like heights and you will never see me jump from anything.

This blue hole, located in the southern Berry Islands, is about 600 feet wide and has a cliff that hangs 20 feet above the water. Those who jump into it from the cliff speak of an adrenaline rush as they venture into its mysterious depths. Its only living inhabitants are said to be oysters.

The dogs enjoyed their beach time and are getting more comfortable being in the water.

The sunrises and sunsets here at Hoffman Cay are pretty awesome! We have definitely enjoyed our stay here. While at the beach we met another couple with their kids who were from Monticello, AR. The world is not as big as it seems and there are so many people out there who have come to realize there is a whole world out there to be discovered and enjoyed. We are all out here just trying to piece it all together.

We currently have a 3 month cruising permit for the Bahamas. It is possible to get another 90 day extension. Our plans are to visit the Exumas for the majority of our time here. This means it is time to pick up the hook and move on to the next destination. Weather, waves, and tides play a huge factor in deciding where and when we go. We have an opening to make the jump over to Great Harbour which will get us closer to the Exumas. This will require another overnight passage but at this stage of the game I feel like we are pro’s at it. We need to leave on Sunday so we can be anchored on Monday in time for a 12:00 call I need to be on. (Of course 3 hours before this call was to take place it got moved to later in the week)

Bubba had slept and rested up most of the day on Sunday while I was working on our blog. The first six hours the sea state was a little swelly. The dogs laid with me on the back of the boat while Bubba drove. I tried to sleep as much as I could those first couple of hours but it was hard due to the waves. There was alot of activity going on across the water. There were several cruise ships, tankers and other sail boats around us. We would take turns helm but he did most of the driving.

We left Bimini with a gorgeous sunset and had a full moon most of the night. When that moon disappeared it got really dark. Luckily the sun would be coming up soon and it of couse was a stunner.

As we made our way into the Great Harbour anchorage Bubba noticed that Ryan and Denise Potter from La Gra were in the anchorage. Bubba met Ryan at a dive shop in West Palm Beach while we were there over Thanksgiving. Ryan and Denise have a Leopard 45. Like us they have had numerouse issues with the construction quality of their boat. It’s hard to believe that all of these lemon of boats make it to market but they do, probably more than I want to know about.

Great Harbour/Great Stirrup Cay in the Berry Islands is best known as the private island for Norweign and Carnival cruise ships. Years ago we took my mom and Bubba’s mom on a cruise and we stopped here to visit their private island.

We anchor down close to the Potters. Joe and Becky from Knot Tied Down would show up a little later in the day. They would make much better time than us considering they are a power yacht.

Everyone met up for sundowners and Denise made some delicious Buffalo chicken dip for an appetizer. We exchanged boat stories, apps to use, weather and navigation tips. Ryan and Denise have boated in the Bahamas before so they had a lot of great advise to share.

The next day our friend Sarah and David from B4checkout would arrive from Bimini. They were behind us a few days because they were waiting for friend, David, to come in and a weather window. While we were in Bimini Bubba purchased some locally caught lobster from some of the local fisherman. Joe cooked up the lobster and some shrimp that I bought from a fisherman in Brunswick and we all had quite the feast with everyone. Unfortunately I neglected to get pictures of the food that everyone brought.

There wasn’t much to do at Great Harbour. We made a trip into town to pick up a few provisions before the next weather window opened and we left for Hoffmans Cay.

We had been in Bimini for a day or so and the only time I had been off the boat was to go to customs and immigration. So with my work day winding down we walked out of the marina to grab a bite to eat and a drink. We picked the Big Game Club because it was close to our marina. I decided to have a little dessert drink for my beverage of choice. Can’t go wrong with a Bushwacker! I spy a Gray Ghost sticker on the window!

After Big Game we grabbed a taxi and went to the casino. It was a beautiful building and grounds but since it was only 5:00 there was not much going on. Interesting fact is the locals on island are not allowed to gamble on the property. We each put $20 in the slot machines and walked away.

The following day I washed our bed linens at the local laundry mat. Our neighbors at the marina on Knot Tied Down asked us if we would like to walk across the island to the beach. Joe and Becky have been cruising on their motor yacht since last year. Originally from York, PA like us they were tired of the cold winters and wanted to head South. Becky, like me, works from her boat as well. So during the day you could always see the guys but we were always hidden away in the bowels of the boat.

The beach was beautiful but still a little swell from the blow we had been riding out the last few days. It was nice to finally get to enjoy another beach and the warm sun,

As we were leaving the beach we stumbled on the Dolphin House. This was on my bucket list of things to find on Bimini. I had seen other cruisers post pictures of it and thought it was worth seeing. The Dolphin House is an creative artistic structure built by a local, Ashley Saunders out of recycled materials. It is quite the sight to see.

One of the other tasks on my list of things to do was to get a Bahamian SIM card so that I could affordably use my phone for work. Verizion offers an international plan but it is $10 bucks a day so that was not a sustainable option. The best way to reach us is through the What’s App, Facetime or Instant Messenger as these allow us to use WIFI versus cellular.

For dinner that evening we went to Ebbie’s to grab a bite to eat with Joe and Becky. Oh my goodness, hands down the best Conch Fritters I have ever had. The seasoning, the batter, and the temperature of the grease were perfect. The lobster I had was pretty delicious as well. Ebbie’s is a nice little dive bar/restaurant lined with dollar bills with indoor and outdoor seating

After a golf cart ride back to our marina with our new friends from Texas we turned up the music at the bar/restaurant at our marina and danced off some of the calories and beverages.

We had small weather window available for us to leave No Name Harbor for Bimini. Bimini is about 48 miles from Florida, and it would take us a day to get there. The challenge with this travel is crossing the Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream current is one of the strongest ocean currents on Earth. Just picture a river in the middle of the ocean going an average speed of 4 miles per hour. It is the main conveyor of heat from South to North in the Atlantic. Due to the current you have to time the wind, the current and you’re heading correctly otherwise you have a very dangerous crossing environment.

We would wait until sunrise to start our way out of the inlet. Getting out of the inlet was not a problem and was the smoothest point of the ride. We left No Name Harbor at 7;04 and arrived Alice Town, Bimini just before sunset. The wind was on our nose the entire time and the waves were big a constant. Even in these conditions they were nowhere near as bad as our passage from Cumberland to St. Augustine.

Anytime you enter a new country you have to raise a Q flag (quarantined) to let others know that your vessel has not cleared customs and immigration. Once docked only the captain can leave the boat to take care of clearing the vessel and passengers in. It was a short walk down the dark road with loud music blaring at every block to get to the immigration and custom offices. We got cleared through immigration that night, but I had to do customs the next morning as they have an online system that you are required to put all of your information into. I had not completed this step as I had planned to do it on the trip over. That was not the case as my time was spent trying to keep the dogs calm,

The dogs are not fans of this sailing lifestyle. They do not like the movement and I am pretty sure Tesla has some PTSD from the Cumberland trip. In my opinion having the dogs on board is a huge mistake. After 4 months they are not comfortable being on the boat and dog hair is out control. Plus, Bulleit and his spastic behavior towards trying to protect me or the boat landed his butt in the water at the marina just after we arrived. A local stopped by to sell us some lobster. Bulleit took off towards the back patio in a sprint, could not stop himself and went directly under the wire line into the water. Luckily, he still had his lifejacket on, and Bubba was able to scoop him up.

Tess pretty much said Thank God we are finally here.

We will be staying at Browns Marina here in Bimini until Monday. As the story goes there is another Nor’easter coming through which is going to make for a fun couple of days.

The latest weather model was telling us we needed to be on the move again. We planned our departure for midnight so that we could arrive to the inlet during daylight. Our boat buddies on B4Checkout, David and Sarah, would be joining us on this leg of the journey. The night was pretty calm, and we settled in for what would be a 15-hour passage down to Key Biscayne. We ended up motoring the whole way as the wind died.

David and Sarah were picking up a friend in the Miami area, so we motored on to No Name Harbor. This would be the first time for us to visit this area, so we were of course very cautious. Based on feedback from Michele on Vista Vida we anchored just outside the entrance of Bill Baggs State Park.

Like so many other places we have visited, Bill Baggs also has a lighthouse. The historic Cape Florida Lighthouse was built in 1825. Cape Florida has long served as a beacon of freedom from Seminole Indians seeking to remain in their Florida home, to fugitive slaves and Black Seminoles who secretly gathered before taking safe passage to the British Bahamas. Cape Florida was named by the explorer Ponce de Leon during the first Spanish expedition in 1513.

As we got closer to the inlet and park, we could see something in the distance. We could not tell if it was other boats or ships, so I got the binoculars out to take a look. Low and behold it was Stiltsville. We had heard of Stiltsville from watching other cruisers videos on YouTube but had no idea where exactly they were, so it was a surprise to be so close to them.

Stiltsville is a group of wood stilt houses located one mile South of Cape Florida on sand banks. It has a colorful history that dates back to the 1930’s. At its peak in 1960, there were over 27 structures on the flats but hurricanes, fires and ravages of being exposed would determine their fate. In 1985, the bottom land the stilt structures sit on were deeded by the state of Florida to Federal Government as part of Biscayne National Park. In 1992, Hurricane Andrew left only seven buildings standing, none of which existed during the heyday.

Before we left for the Bahamas, we needed to secure a grill. We got feedback from several cruisers on their favorite grill, none of which said the Magma brand. We should have done this sooner in our journey, but we were going try to use our Ninja oven instead. We have since learned that our solar and AGW batteries can’t support it. It would just so happen that one of our other cruising friends on Ten Seven Freedom (retreat) also needed a grill as well. I called two local businesses, found one that had the grill we were looking for. It was confirmed that I could purchase 2 grills, so I called an Uber and was on my way. If only it were that easy, I arrived at the location to be told that yes, he had them in stock, but he would have to get them from his Tampa location. That was a piece of information that would have been helpful to know beforehand. My Uber driver Jose was great, he waited as I called the second location to be told they too would have to order them. I was not giving up, I found a West Marine and picked up two Magma grills.

So, we grill in tow Jose drove me back to Bill Baggs state park. Bubba met me at the park in the dinghy. We loaded them up and then walked over to Boaters Grill for some lunch. Of course, Bubba never pays close attention when ordering at restaurants. He decided to go with the catch of the day Yellow Fin Tuna with Cuban beans and rice. Out to the table comes the whole fish. A common bad habit of Bubba’s is not asking how much something costs. This was an outrageously expensive lunch and I hope he has learned his lesson. Meanwhile, I enjoyed a hamburger and fries.

Being in an anchorage with a lot of other boats means you have to always be aware of what is going on around you. This rang true on Black Friday as a rogue Ghost Ship made its way down the anchorage towards our boat. Sarah messaged me about the boat, but I had already caught it out of the corner of my eye as I sat working from my laptop. I went outside and blew my horn, but no one surfaced. It was at that point that I knew I had to call the Coast Guard. I hailed the Coast Guard over the radio. Not too long afterwards Bubba and David showed back up in the dinghy. Bubba went over to check on the boat and found that it was not only afloat, but it was also taking on water. The Coast Guard showed up later and by that time someone taken it to a mooring ball and tied it off.

The following day after a visit to the Farmers Market we loaded up the dogs and dinghied over to Peanut Island so that we could cool off. Peanut Island is a 79-acre island at the mouth of Lake Worth in Palm Beach County. The island was created by dredging related projects in 1918 which also created the inlet. A $13 million dollar renovation on the island in 2005 resulted in Peanut Island Park including camping sites, a pier and man-made reef. The island was the location of a blast shelter that was built for President Kennedy shortly after the 1960 election. Kennedy would often spend winters in Palm Beach.

Houses like the one above line the waterway from our anchorage over to Peanut Island.

The dogs are still apprehensive about the water. I pray in due time they learn to enjoy it.

We have been on the boat since August, and this was the first time I had been in the water. It was a nice day to cool off in the super clear water.

We closed the night with another beautiful sunset.

Thanksgiving looks a little different on a boat. Trying to cook on a boat is a challenge in itself much less cook a large meal. While we did not have a traditional Thanksgiving meal, we did not go hungry and enjoyed a turkey sandwich instead.

We did not have much planned for the day. About an hour after we ate, we got a surprise phone call from Frank and Lisa that they had driven down from Hollywood to West Palm Beach. This was a very unexpected surprise! We loaded up the dogs in the dinghy and headed to shore.

We spent a couple of hours stretching our legs and taking in the scenery. Along the waterfront there were several sand sculptures on display.

We said our goodbye to Frank and Lisa and headed back to the boat to enjoy another gorgeous sunset.