Christmas, Junkanoo & Rock Sound

Well, so much has been going on & I have been very lax about the blog!  We crossed from Little Harbour, Abaco to Royal Island, Eleuthera on 12/16.  Prior to that we had spent a wonderful few days at Tahiti Beach and Lynyard Cay. 

Cracker P’s on Lubbers            The Castle

The weather was due to change & since we did not wish to be in Royal for 5-6 days we pressed on to Hatchet Bay.  That means passing through Current Cut.  Now most of you know that we sailboats do not travel all that fast and that we are not racers by any stretch of the imagination.  When our boat is going 8-9 knots – we are flying!  That’s Current Cut!  After that nice fast ride through there we went on to Hatchet Bay.  A lovely sail! We spent last Christmas there and if you wish to see the photos, just scroll back to previous blog entries.

A lot had changed there in the past year.  Some American has now gone into partnership with the Bahamian stone crab guys, built a processing plant & has contracted to sell all the catch to a Florida firm.  BOO-HISS!! That means no more fresh off the boat stone crab for the cruisers, locals & winter residents.  Luckily for us, Francis from The Front Porch restaurant understood our disappointment, took Rob aside & said that he would sell us some of his crab from his pots for the same price we paid last year!  YEAH FRANCIS!  He’s a great guy huh?   Last year whenever I went to get the crab it seemed that they had no “thank you bags”.  Thank You Bags are those bags you get in the shops that say….. ‘thank you’ on them.  I made a point of bringing a box over (thanks Pete) but since they now do not sell to the public, what to do…. give them to Francis & Gina (his wife) at The Front Porch.  For a couple of days we were the only boat in Hatchet Bay and that seemed odd but there are so many boats stacked up in Florida that when the flood gates (weather) open it will be packed. 

 

After a few days in Hatchet we told Francis & Gina bye & headed to Governors Harbour.  There were only 2 boats there!  One was a guy we met last year & the other was a young man named Patrick who had introduced himself to us at The Front Porch when he stopped in a rental car.  We walked through town and got some Frangelico, 1 liter bottle $18.00!  Much cheaper than the US.  Tanqueray gin is $21.00 for a liter!  The grocery next door has some wonderful English sausage that Rob adores so a package of those came too!  Now it is getting rater close to Christmas so it was time to move to Rock Sound where the Junkanoo Competition was to be held Christmas day.

We arrived in Rock Sound the afternoon of the 23rd   and anchored off of Pascal’s 4 Points Restaurant.  Again, we have gotten to know the owners over the years & its just really neat when you come back & they remember you.  We invited Patrick – the single hander – to join us for Christmas dinner & Junkanoo and what a time we had. 

The drums are made of goat skin & often absorb moisture so they are ‘tuned’ by warming & shrinking the skins. I was given a chance to play one & they are very heavy!  All of this & we have not even gotten to the festivities yet! 

I was given this hat by one of the performers… Its huge!  What to do with it??

The music, the costumes, the drums!  Junkanoo is just plain FUN!

 

What a blast!  I hope we didn’t make one of these out of ourselves!

 

I hope you get the idea, we had fun!  I hope this post is not too big!  More in a few days.  We are awaiting the arrival of our friends Pete & Jane on the 5th.  Bye for now!

The Messy But Good Crossing! 12/6-12/7/2013

                                  

Well, we had a grand time in Ft. Pierce but it was time to make a move over to the Bahamas.  The prescriptions had arrived, laundry done (thanks Pete & Jane!), the boat provisioned and all we needed was fuel & water and we would be ready to go. 

At about 1315 (12/6) we were pulling away from the fuel dock with the next planned stop being Green Turtle Cay in Abaco.  As we headed towards the inlet we could see the breakers.  It was a classic case of wind against tide for a few hundred yards.  There were no elephants dancing on the horizon so we decided to go on.  The water came over the bow so quickly that the scuppers (drains) on deck could not keep up!  The hawse pipe cover washed off the anchor chain locker but luckily was caught by the jerry cans.  It was quite a sight!  Not scary but very very wet!  Rob decided he would take the first watch so I went below to read.  Did I mention that it was wet??  Of course with all the rolling anything not securely stowed  fell somewhere.  Our pilot berth serves as the pantry & luckily I had secured it with lifeline netting and all was well there.  No so good with our bed.  Did I mention that we just got this mattress last September??  When all that water came over the bow and washed away the cover that left a nice 3in whole for seawater to enter.  There was so much water that it filled the bilge & chain locker and poured onto our bed.  The bilge pumps were earning their keep for a few minutes that day.  There is not too much you can do while underway for this so I took stock, thought about what do do the next day and went to read.  Now there is a vent at the forward end of the pilot berth for fresh air, I was sitting across from this vent when all of a sudden there was water hitting the hatch cover (secured) and pouring through this vent!  I normally have the computer there and was very pleased I had stowed it before we got underway.  Of course that got the starboard side cushion and new decorative pillows and my slippers wet with sea water.  For you non boater types let me explain that sea water never really dries.  It will always have a damp sticky feel until cleaned with fresh water. 

The crossing itself was wonderful!  We take watches (turns so the other may rest/sleep) and there is nothing as beautiful as a clear night sky when you are on deck with just your thoughts & dreams!  I really think the ancient Greeks must have had too much time on their hands!  Some of the constellations I really have a hard time seeing.  Of course the Big & Little Dippers are easy, and I have no problem with Orion's Belt… its just the rest of him I can’t find!    Because of this I started making my on constellations!  Should I ever be on watch with any of you I’ll be happy to share them with you.  Hey – it does pass the time! 

Another great new “toy” we got is AIS – Automatic Identification System.  Your biggest concern when on the ocean at night are the big containerships.  Now if you are close enough to read their name you are already in deep do-do!  AIS will show them as a “target” on the chartplotter.  The you place you cursor over the target, follow the commands & voila you have there name, course, speed and all sorts of info!  When you call them by name on VHF 16 they always seem to answer!  hmmmmmm.  Luckily we have never had to call any of them but its interesting to look at their info.

Since the bed was wet and we were tired we decided to stop at Great Sale Cay for the night.  It worked out well.  Arrived at 1415 – 25 hours for the crossing- and set about straightening & cleaning.  We got the mattress as best we could with fresh water but it still needs to dry another day or two but all of the saltwater up forward has been cleaned and the pilot berth/cushion too.  All that remains is the shower stall which was being used as a storage closet! 

It was now getting late & we were tired and hungry so we fixed a nice dinner, put on our Bahamian music and decided to eat topside.  Towards the end of the meal I heard a noise & it turned out that our propane regulator/gauge had just failed!  While we were cooking Rob had asked me to turn off the propane so he could change tanks.  The grill was just not getting hot he said but while there was still a flame on the veg I was cooking below we thought maybe it was just about empty.  It was not 20 min after that I heard the hissing.  That was really lucky on so many levels!  Thank You God!  Of course now we have no fuel for cooking/coffee & today is Sunday and even if we were near a shop they would be closed but that is ok!  We have plenty to eat & drink and there was no harm to us or the boat. 

Whoops–I Forgot!

OK, here are the pics I haven’t posted!

The top left is a cross in St Augustine that can be seen from miles offshore.  Top right & bottom left are of the fort of San Marco that defended the “oldest city” and the bottom right is the waterfront of St. Augustine today.

These are of our tree!  The big ornament is made from ‘conch feet’.  The ornament on the right photo was made for us by our dear friend Jane from S/V Sereno 55 from beach glass!  I’ll get a pic of our Santa in his hammock over the main and the ornaments individually soon.

Later!                                           

 

 

Thanksgiving with Pete & Jane

 

We are safely tucked into Harbor Town Marina and with our good friends Pete & Jane for the holiday.  Later we will go to Pete’s sister Paula’s for dinner.  Cool but beautiful weather!  Of course after Thanksgiving dinner it is time for the tree to go up!  What a grand time!  Good friends – good times – good people!

At Pete’s sisters house we had the chance to meet a lovely 6th grader named Eleanor who wrote the most fantastic poem for the blessing:

The laughter, the joy- all at the table

The happiness, the love- all at the table

Joined together by hope

Joined together by love

Sitting with one another

Reminiscing about the past

Thinking about the future

The laughter, the joy- all at the table

The happiness, the love- all at the table

Isn't that just great?

Well, now it is Sunday, the turkey & ham are gone – we had shrimp & lobster for dinner last night!  Today, of course it is raining and we need to move the boat out of the marina – too expensive!  Still waiting on prescriptions and stuff so we will do that from the anchorage.  Pete & Jane are nice enough to let us keep stuff in their freezer & garage until a better day when its not raining!  What a great visit as usual & we have been making plans for their visit to the Bahamas next year – not that far away!  Last season they paid us a visit in the Abacos so this time it will be Eleuthera.  Later!