Time Out

Many apologies for the lack of blog updates.  A series of technical difficulties, culminating in the complete loss of function of the laptop space bar, have made blogging more difficult.  That said, we also just had a lovely visit with my parents on Harbour Island.  Much merriment was had by all- eating, drinking, beach-bumming- so writing was clearly not a priority when any free time and wifi was available.

The end of the holidays signifies a change in approach and priorities for our adventure, however.  Since leaving Seven Seas marina in October, our clear goal was to make it to Eleuthera by Christmas.  Our traveling approach will now change to moving according to the wind and our will.  Our desire to visit new coral reefs or see a new island will become our new goals.  Our attention is also now shifting toward adventure: Chapter 2.  Our boat and budget are only large enough to sustain us through the Exuma islands, after which we will be deciding what is to come next.  Pull anchor or try to continue?  We love the water, cruising and traveling, but always knew that we would have to go back to "real life" at some point.  As I write this, Cyrus and Tyler are riding in a fellow cruiser's dinghy- playing in the harbor.  How will we retain and implement the lessons we have learned through this adventure?  How will we continue to make joy, play, nature and living in the moment a part of each day?

I will post more about our journey through Devil's Backbone and Harbour Island before we move out of wifi range.  

Chub Cay

After running aground off of Stirrup Cay, we moved our boat to a slightly less rolly anchorage and tried to recoup a bit.  After coffee and a swim, we checked our weather window for traveling north to Sandy Point on Abaco.  As luck would have it, the best day for sailing was that very day.  We considered the possibility, and then changed our route to Eleuthera- opting to go south to Chub Cay, cross to Nassau and then make a last 35-mile trip to Spanish Wells.
We anchored in Bullocks Harbor and left at first light, in a light rain, for Chub Cay.  This route was actually back-tracking a bit, however, back-tracking is simply not the same in cruising terms.
We arrived in Chub Cay at around 3:30pm- with 5 other boats already anchored in a tiny curve in the beach away from the tidal surge and wind.  Luckily, our boat only draws (length below the waterline) 4 feet 4 inches, so we can sneak in a bit further than other boats.
We tucked into our spot, set the anchor (in 2 tries) and then SWAM!!!
Cyrus insisted that I swim with him.  At first, I was hesitant because I was tired and brain-dead from a long trek- but, as you may know, Cyrus usually gets his way.  We played and swam until sunset- finding giant starfish and pledging to repeat the swim first thing in the morning.
That said- Chub Cay has nothing but a marina with an over-priced restaurant (not uncommon in the Bahamas)- so Tyler's dream of a burger and beer was replaced with homemade spaghetti bolognaise and red wine....such is the life!

Swimming with Mirage in background

Starfish and our anchor- notice it is sitting on it's side- not really how it is supposed to work
thank god for 100 feet of chain- Thank you Keath!

Stirrup Cay

It is 10:40pm and everyone on board the boat is snoring...including Zander- the perfect time to write a blog post.  When I started the blog, I had hoped to be able to somehow update every day.  The realities of data roaming on a cell phone and ability to connect to wifi have set in, however, so I will try to update as often as I can.  Honestly, I wish I could update more often because I tend to write more about observations and less simple rehashing of our travels....
Much has happened since the last post!
  We sailed around Little Stirrup and Great Stirrup Cays- where the large cruise ships pull in early in the morning and their guests explore an "island paradise."  Ironically, the beaches on these Cays have been bulldozed to create a fake Bahamian paradise.  We anchored on the other side of the Cays from the cruise ships, hoping to spend a couple of days swimming and relaxing before sailing north to Sandy Point....

   We were wrong.

As we were sitting on a small (real) beach watching the sun set, Tyler said, "I think our boat has hit the ground- Just look at the water line (painted on the boat)."  I told him he was being paranoid, but after a few more minutes, I noticed the boat was rocking much more than it should be on the waves...

Mirage had run aground.

We ran the dinghy back to the boat just as the sun slipped away at 5:30 and the bad news was that low tide was not to come for another 2 hours.  Tyler sprang into action trying to get Mirage to heel (tip to one side) so the keel did not bare the load of the boat each time it slammed into the ground.  We put out the sails and took turns leaning off the port side of the boat to tip it as far as possible.  And then, we just waited.  At about 9:30pm, Mirage started to drift loose bit by bit and as the tide came back in, she was released and we were able to pull up the anchor and find deeper water.  To make matters worse, somehow our dinghy came loose during the commotion of anchoring and started to drift away.  Tyler had to make a mad dash for it using the kayak.  I offered to go after it, but he wouldn't let me- saying something about this is how people get lost at sea and killed...which I know was meant to protect me, but left me thinking...EXACTLY!! Where are you going??

After a very rolly night, we decided to head back to Bullocks Harbor and rethink our travel plans- which led us to Chub Cay and then Nassau...but more about that tomorrow- time for me to snore too.

Connected

Today 12/8, we are in the Berry Islands, happily connected to wifi.  The long lapse in communication was due to our trip across the Great Bahama Bank from Bimini to the Berrys, and then anchoring outside of Bullocks Harbor.  Our wifi antenna is almost completed- Tyler did his part and now I have to make all the components talk to each other...I hope I can make that work!
Details of our trip:
After leaving Alicetown in north Bimini, we anchored and played in Nixon's harbor in south Bimini.  We snorkeled together for the first time and were able to see the anchor under water.... not sure that really made ME feel better... but it is cool to see how the anchor actually works.

This sea star was actually super huge... he was hanging out near the anchor

After a very rocky night in Nixon's harbor, we pulled anchor and visited Turtle Rocks nearby.  We were a little shy about snorkeling around a shipwreck in the seas we had, but we were able to dinghy around and take some cool pics.

Shipwreck!

Turtle Rocks was great for some shallow snorkeling, and we began our new photo series entitled "See those tiny white things- those are fish!"

I swear there are fish in this picture and the one below...

We spent the night in Honeymoon Harbor- had a very nice sunset snack on the beach and managed to leave Cyrus' snorkel gear on the beach...bummer.  We had a much calmer night with great protection from the wind, and awoke at 5am to begin our journey across the bank toward the Berry islands. 

We knew that we would not be able to make the trip in one day (sailing only in the daylight) and hoped that we would be able to anchor near the shallows in the twilight and have a pretty calm night before heading in to Bullocks Harbor on Friday.
We motored into a head wind the entire day with waves bashing against our bow- Cyrus had a great time sitting at the front of the boat for the roller coaster ride- but those waves also meant that we barely made 5 knots- a 50 mile trip at less than 5mph...we soon realized that we would be anchoring in the dark.
Traveling over the sea at night is actually quite beautiful.  The stars are amazing and even the sliver moon is bright.  Anchoring at night is not beautiful- nonetheless, we hooked up and rocked and rolled all night- our theory about the shallows killing the waves was not correct.
The last leg of our trip took us northeast 20 miles to Bullocks Harbor.  Because of our new heading (not dead-on into the wind) we were able to sail the entire leg.  Tyler set up his fishing rod for trolling and...success!!.. he caught a rather large mackerel!  The whole family was in the cockpit as we tried to haul the fish onto the boat, remove the hook and then....we weren't sure what to do.  We ended up "storing" our catch in a bucket until we made our destination and then Tyler used his fish cleaning skills (learned on an Alaskan salmon boat) and we had a terrific lunch.

Tyler caught a 25 inch Cero Mackerel en route to Bullocks Harbor.



Mackerel fillets!

While in Bullocks Harbor on Great Harbor Cay, we have explored the island a bit while staying in the marina for a night.  We rented a golf cart- which provided some entertainment for all of us...

Cyrus driving the golf cart

 Perhaps a foreshadowing of the future (teenage years), Cyrus accidentally started the golf cart while waiting for Tyler and I at a restaurant.  When we heard the golf cart motor start, Tyler and I leapt from our table to the restaurant doorway- nearly getting stuck as we both tried to get out the door at the same time.  Karma was good to us, and Tyler was able to stop the golf cart before hitting a house or the restaurant.  Heart. Attack.
Cyrus was able to safely drive the golf cart later that day... even staying on the left side of the road.

Finally, we met another sailing family last night at dinner.  We had a very enjoyable night chatting about sailing misadventures while Cyrus played LEGO video games with the kids.

We plan to move on from the marina today, anchoring in protected water and hopefully snorkeling an airplane wreck.  If all goes well, we will make a passage from the northern part of the Berry islands to Sandy Point in the Abaco islands on Tues, Wed or Thurs this week.

Mirage from afar- on my kayak:)

Bahamas!

At approximately 2:30pm yesterday, we arrived at Bimini island in the Bahamas!

 
Our journey began at 6:45 am as we left No Name Harbor and turned southeast toward Fowley Rocks. 
We turned toward Bimini an hour later in 15-20 knot Northeast winds and 2-3 foot seas.  Thankfully, the rest of the trip was uneventful, minus the thrill of seeing cargo ships appear on the horizon, grow larger and larger...and larger, and then pass safely in front of u
Our total time on the water was just under 8 hours.

Clearing immigration and customs was another small adventure because someone (Tyler) was honest and answered "yes" to having a pet onboard and someone else (me) did not have the exactly correct paperwork....no surprise there.
The bureaucratic gods were smiling on us, however, and I was able to solve the situation with a last minute email this morning.  Lesson learned.

Now what?  We are very excited to anchor around Bimini today and snorkel and explore.  We may attempt a longer passage (71nm to Chub Cay in the Berry Islands- the longest passage we will make until 2014) tomorrow.
For now...as Cyrus said this morning, "Day 1 in the Bahamas has passed...Day 2 in the Bahamas has come!"

Making an attempt

Today we are making our attempt at crossing the Gulf Stream and going to the Bahamas.  My suggestion to offer Zander as a virgin sacrifice to Poseidon was met with sneers... 

Hopefully I will be able to recount our journey for the blog this evening- but wifi may be a problem.

Bad pic of the Florida channel lighthouse

Sunrise

Lots of boats out today!