Bahamas Bound

  Well this morning, the wind finally laid down after a couple days of cloudy and windy weather. I was making some coffee for Jessica and she hollered from the cockpit, there is a rainbow. I answered with where? Jessica said it’s in the sky.    Well, I figured that, but I was wondering where in the sky the rainbow was located. Jessica pointed above the lighthouse and my eyes were open to a beautiful, beautiful rainbow. Then after lunch when the wind laid down enough, we put the big motor on the dinghy and rode over to Tahiti Beach and spent the afternoon chilling on the sandbar.    We talked to a family who had their house destroyed during hurricane Dorian in 2019 and we saw a swingset on the sandbar, but it was high tide so it was too deep of water to use the swings, but we are looking forward to going back in the days to come during low tide. Jessica spotted a palm tree for her infamous photo shoot, leaning against the palm tree with coconuts in hand. It’s suc...

This morning Jessica and I filled up our Jerry cans with rain water from the Man-O-War marina cistern to replenish the water tanks on Methuselah. Despite the 30 knot winds, we made the 6 mile venture back to Hopetown on elbow cay.    The cold front that just brought cool temperatures to the East Coast brought super windy conditions to the Bahamas and two overcast and cloudy days in a row. It was 75° today, but it felt much cooler with the wind and cloudy skies. We picked up a mooring ball in Hopetown again and gathered up the laundry and did a few loads at the marina laundromat….wash only for Jessica‘s clothes with drying on the lifelines with clothes pins because if they shrunk (due to their propane dryers), it would be very difficult to find the Loft clothing store in the Bahamas to replace her clothes.    We also picked up a few groceries, to say the least, it was a far cry from a Harris Teeter. Then we splurged and went out to eat at Captain Jack’s and thoroughly...

  Jessica and I are still on a Mooring ball in Man-O-War cay.    This morning I woke up while Jessica was still fading in out and I broke out the Christmas tree and laid it on the table. She was so surprised when she woke up without her contact lens and could barely make out what was on the table. She put on her glasses and was so surprised to see a miniature Christmas tree. We spent the first half of the morning decorating the tree, then we took a walk in town. We found a bakery that had fresh brownies and a few dog treats for Alli, who walked around the bakery/museum like she owned the place.     We read the memorial to the hurricane Dorian that devastated to the community six years ago.    It was our first cloudy day and the temperatures dropped to a chilly 74° fort a high today.    We spent some time on the boat today and I changed    the transmission fluid and we had a nice relaxing day listening to Christmas music.

  Happy Thanksgiving. This morning the boat chores included Jessica vacuuming the cabin, while we watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. It was the first time we turned on national news on the iPad and we are so happy that our priorities are the weather, which way the wind is blowing and the tides.  I sewed a tear in the cockpit chair, then we made the “big” passage for 1 mile over to Man – O – war cay.    As we picked up a mooring ball, we saw a ton of turtles swimming in the harbor. So after lunch, we jumped in the water with our masks and wetsuit, because the water is a chilly 81°, and we could not find a single turtle. But we held hands and snorkeled around together and enjoyed the swim. Then we took the dinghy over to the town dock and walked around Man – O – war town and we are not exactly thrilled about this town. It was quaint, but not like it was in Hopetown. So we came back to the boat and made an excellent Thanksgiving meal which included stove top st...

  I have turned into the island man, and I have made fire and caught meat for my family. Yesterday I took the leftover lobster tails and made lobster ceviche for lunch. Today I made fire and cooked hamburgers on the beach grill. Both were so delicious. We found this cool spot on the sound side beach that was 50 feet away from the ocean side rocks where waves were breaking and it was absolutely beautiful. We met some folks from Atlanta doing a charter…..It is fun hearing about others travel adventures.    A few days ago when Jessica and I were snorkeling, we would take turns so one of us could watch over our dog Alli on the beach. Now that we have been here a week or so, Alli has gotten into island living.     She loves to relax under the shade. Even though we got her a dog beach chair, she still likes to get into our chair. Although Thanksgiving is not a honored holiday in the Bahamas, we will celebrate by eating a ham steak and stove top stuffing and salad. ...

  Jessica and I  strolled down the streets of the quaint village of Hopetown this morning. Then we got word that Wanda‘s shipment of Jessica‘s contact lenses had arrived in Marsh Harbor.    So we motored  over to charge up the batteries and went into town stopping by the grocery store to top off our provisions. Jessica got her contact lenses and we sailed  over to man-of-war Cay. Took a short walk on the beach and have fallen in love with this Cay.  We cooked some burgers on the grill and are enjoying the wonderful weather.

  Jessica and I took the dinghy over to the lighthouse dock this morning. We walked up the spiral staircase and were    rewarded with a phenomenal view.    Then we took a dinghy ride over to the east side of elbow cay and set up the Shimbuni on the beach and ate our lunch. We were so proud of Alli because she sat in her little beach chair cot thingy. Jessica and I swam out to the reef and saw some beautiful fish and I was able to harvest four lobsters. After the first lobster, I put it on the stringer and asked Jessica to watch it to make sure it did not swim off while I looked for some more lobsters. I got back to the beach and Jessica    said she had taken the lobster on a walk. Ha ha. She was determined not to lose that lobster after tasting one a few nights ago. The butter, the garlic salt, delicious!!!! Then we held hands and snorkeled where the sand met the reef line. I was in heaven! 

  Jessica and I    made the 10 minute walk to the grocery store in Marsh Harbor this morning.    It was basically all American products just with the higher prices. Then we hiked back to the dinghy and out to Methuselah with our backpacks of groceries.    Then we enjoyed a leisurely two hour sail out to Hopetown on Ebow cay… we were able to charge the batteries up to 66%, yahoo. We walked around the streets and absolutely fell in love with this town. The quaint, narrow streets and the view of the lighthouse and the beach were breathtaking.    The local Bohemians that we have encountered have been super friendly.