January 14-21

All dressed up and nowhere to go. That seems to be the story since our arrival in The Bahamas. If you look carefully, you can probably see the black cloud hanging over Corinne’s head as well.

We were all set to leave Nassau last Tuesday morning. In the process of leaving the slip, the transmission would not go from reverse back into forward. Corinne bravely reached out to fend off the boat behind us and in doing so broke her wrist. With assistance from fellow boaters we got back into our slip and walked up the dock to catch a taxi to the hospital. Someone slipped in behind us and said ‘I will give you a ride’ which we were happy to accept.

We spent the morning in the hospital and returned to the marina in the early afternoon to find our boat carefully and neatly secured. Shortly afterwards Claire, from across the way, came by and said ‘Luv, you won’t be cooking tonight so I will bring you over supper.’ Once again we are amazed by the thoughtfulness of the cruising community.

We have spent the past week either back and forth to the hospital, as the cast had to be adjusted twice to ease the pain caused by swelling, or touring around Nassau. So far, the highlights have been making arrangements to have the transmission replaced and finding Internet connections at the Starbucks or On the Run Esso station across the street.

Actually the real highlight was a seafood dinner Claire and David invited us to on Thursday. We went with Claire down to the docks to buy fresh hogfish and lobster from local fishermen and then Dave cooked it in white wine sauce – fabulous!

This week Albert will replace the transmission and Corinne will have a new cast put on. Then, if another cold front does not slow us down, we will be off to The Exumas for a couple of weeks.

January 12-13

We were up at 4:00 am (who could sleep anyways) in order to be away before first light. Everything went smoothly as we inched our way around the south end of Key Biscayne and out into the ocean, headed for North Rock at the north end of the Bimini Islands, some 56 nautical miles distant. We have heard many stories about how difficult crossing the Gulf Stream can be, but had a wonderful trip.

We were ‘off-soundings for most of this part of the passage, meaning that the depth sounder cannot register the bottom of the ocean. As we approached Bimini, however, the water quickly shoaled to 20 to 30 feet, in the transition becoming the most incredible aquamarine colour imaginable.

The second leg of the trip traversed the Great Bahama Bank, a distance of 59 nautical miles. The average depth of the water across the Banks was 15 to 20 feet, and so this water was also a spectacular blue colour. At regular intervals along the way schools of flying fish would go skittering across the water.

As dusk approached we turned on the barbecue and enjoyed pork chops with a greek salad while watching the sun disappear beyond the horizon.

At that point, the ocean began to loom quite large. We were very happy to be in the company of 15 to 20 other boats that were also making the crossing to Nassau. Every hour one boat led a radio check in which all participating boats checked in with their position. There was also constant radio contact between boats to share conditions and stories, as well as just generally maintain spirits.

By approximately 3:00 am we were approaching the Northwest Shoal, marking the entrance to the Northwest Channel and the Tongue of the Ocean. This was the third and final leg of the trip and was again ‘off-soundings’.

The moon had set by midnight and the stars visible during the night were amazing. It was also intriguing to see the phosphorescence in the wake of boat as we moved along. This looks like hundreds of fireflies flashing for just a second to mark your progress.

After travelling for thirty-one and a half hours and covering 175 nautical miles, we finally arrived at Nassau, very tired and thankful to have had such a wonderful trip. As we approached Nassau we radioed to ask for permission to enter the harbour and raised the yellow quarantine flag which must remain flying until we have cleared Customs and Immigration. They come to the boat to complete the required forms, and you must remain on the boat until this process has been completed. Late in the afternoon we happily raised the Bahamian courtesy flag and are looking forward to confirming that it is indeed ‘Better in The Bahamas’, mon.

January 10-11

KLUNK!

‘What was that?’

‘I don’t know, but … we’re not moving.’

Oh #@@**

We had departed at noon from the Miami Yacht Club to head down Biscayne Bay to No-Name Harbour, a preferred departure point for The Bahamas. A mile into the trip, we felt a shudder and heard a horrible clunk. We were in the middle of the busy channel leaving Miami and going nowhere.

We quickly set the anchor and ran through all of the possibilities, none of them good, becoming more disheartened with each. Having no idea what to do next, we called TowBoat US to came and get us. When the operator arrived, he patiently reviewed our options, and as he prepared the paperwork, looked from his boat to ours and said, ‘But I think I know what your problem is. Look at your prop.’

A large palm frond had become entangled in the prop and was fluttering behind us. He towed us back to the harbour, to the exact place we had left a couple of hours earlier, and then offered to dive and cut the frond loose. In ten minutes we started the engine and everything was fine. Talk about going from on top of the world to disappointed to excited again!

Although it was getting late in the afternoon, we opted to sail down to No-Name to be ready to go.

Saturday was a busy day, route planning with three other boats and keeping a nervous eye on the weather. After much discussion, we had a plan – and only changed our collective minds three more times through the day as we compared notes with other cruisers.

January 2-9

We were up early this morning.

In fact, all of us had a restless night, I think, listening to the wind singing in the rigging and wondering how the dinghy ride to shore would be.

The winds of the forecast ‘norther’ began to fill in last evening, almost on cue as Brett and Kristi began to pack up for the next part of their vacation. By morning they were blowing steadily at 25 plus knots. Not only was it windy, but decidedly cool as well.

Since saying good-bye, our week has been preoccupied with trying to figure out how much wine and Kraft dinner we will need for the next three months, and then running around picking things up. Figuring out our needs for our time in the Bahamas has actually been a big undertaking, but the more significant task has turned out to be where to pack everything we have purchased.

We rented a car for the weekend and on Sunday drove down through the keys as far as Islamorada. Along the way we picked up a heavy-duty fishing rod at a flea market and a weight belt at one of the dive shops. Corinne was shaking her head with both of these purchases, but was much happier after lunch at a very nice ocean side restaurant.

Our packing has been going well, and we are waiting for the right ‘window’ to cross over to the Bahamas. Our intent is to cross to Bimini and go on to Nassau as quickly as possible. From there we will take our time sailing down the chain of keys known as The Exumas and end up in Georgetown.

December 30 – January 1

We anchored just out from the Miami Yacht Club. This was quite a remarkable spot, looking out on the Miami skyline to the west and Miami Beach to the east.

The day was again fabulous, so we set out to explore the beach and shops in the area known as South Beach. This is the popular and trendy area of Miami Beach. One of the highlights was the Lincoln Pedestrian Parkway, approximately an eight-block section of the street closed to traffic and full of great shops and restaurants. Kristi had some good shopping, and we all enjoyed a great supper at Nexxt.

South Beach was so much fun on Sunday, we just had to go back and check it out on New Years Eve day. It appears that this is ‘the’ place to be for New Years Eve, and it was fun to see all the preparations.

We spent some time on the beach, enjoyed an afternoon drink and appetizers at a couple of the bars along Ocean Drive and then returned to the boat for supper. We had no sooner finished the barbecue when we were treated to a spectacular display of fireworks over the Miami skyline.

How quickly a year goes. How quickly this week has gone. We have been having a great time and wish the same for all of you.

Happy New Years

December 27-29

The weather has been fantastic, and shows no signs of changing. We spent another fabulous day at the beach, and in the evening walked down to Los Olas Boulevard for dinner and gelato.

Brett’s birthday was on the 28th, and the kids made plans to go to the Panthers hockey game in the evening. Ribs were on the menu for dinner, so in the morning we headed out in the dinghy to find a grocery store.

This turned out to be quite an adventure, confronting dragons (well, pretty big iguanas), rescuing damsels in distress (another story) and ended up taking much of the day.

Try as hard as we might, we still had leftovers for another day.

On Saturday we headed down to Miami. It was a beautiful day with a 15 knot wind, but basically ‘on the nose’. This made for a rather bumpy ride motoring into the waves. While not unpleasant, everyone generally has a different idea of what is fun, except for the end of the sail drink, which we all agreed tasted pretty good.

December 26

I remember having to wait forever for it to be Christmas morning, but this was getting crazy.

Brett and Kristi were to arrive at 11:30 Christmas night, but were again delayed and did not get to the boat until after 3:00 am. It was fun to see the ‘goofy grin’ on their faces that always seems to accompany palm trees and warm temperatures.


After a relaxing start in the morning, and checking out the stockings, we headed down to the beach for the afternoon. Quite a stretch from the cross-country ski trails, and you will notice that Kristi appears to be much happier with this option. She maintains that after we made her ski 10 miles to the cabin, and back again, when she was only three, she has never been that fond of the skiing option.

The motel/apartment complex where we were able to get a slip had a barbecue, and so we returned from the beach in time to grill a turkey breast for dinner. Bill, who took us under his wing, joined us for dinner.




Although Corinne and I had already received our best present the previous night, it was still fun to gather around the Christmas tree.