USA here we come

It was time to go.  The wind was going to continue to die over the next several days, so we needed to get out of dodge so we didn't have to motor across the Gulf Stream.  We swam for the very last time, prepared our meals, battened down the hatches and made a run for it at two in the afternoon.  As we got under way, the wind was light, lighter than we would have liked.  In fact, we had to motor sail until we reached the top of the Berry Islands.  When we turned west, the engines were turned off and it was quiet once again as we sailed for the last time in the Bahamas.

 Watching a movie as we get underway

 Reeling 'em in

Wouldn't you know it, just as the sun was making it's last appearance and we were ready to bring in our gear for the night, we heard that sweet sound of Zzzzzzzzzzz and then again, Zzzzzzzzzz and then the hand line pulled tight (sorry it doesn't make that Zzzzzzzz sound)!!  Holy tuna batman, we just went through a school of fish.  Craig was already reeling his in, I started reeling in the other pole and we left the hand line alone for the moment.  It was utter chaos with kids running around doing their 'jobs', not knowing if they should help mom or dad.  Craig pulled his in - it was a tuna!  Woo Hoo.  Then I pulled mine in, another tuna!  Oops, mine got away.  I think I pulled him in too close and too fast.  He shook the hook.  Darn it!  The hand line was next, we landed another tuna.  Three fish on the hook and two in the bucket.  Not too shabby.  

Yummy sushi tonight!

Night night

Moon on the rise

We had a nice sail that first night.  I took the first part of the watch until 1am.  During my watch I witnessed a growing number of ships as I approached the intersection near Freeport, Grand Bahama and the main channel.  At first, I could make out a few lights and confirmed their position and intended direction using our trusty AIS.  Then slowly but surely, the number began to grow.  I remember at each marked hour when I wrote in the log book, the number was steadily increasing.  I counted a maximum of 15 ships (cargo and cruise) at one time in my immediate vicinity.  I was on the southern edge of the water way, close to the shallow banks of the Berry Islands while the ships while passing to the north.  But they were not all on the move, that was the puzzling part.  A growing number of them, I surmise at least half, were not moving at all.  They were just sitting there like birds bobbing in the water.  I don't know what they were waiting for.  Perhaps they were waiting for the sun to come up before entering Freeport.  However you want to explain it, it was a little freaky and definitely kept me alert all night.

As soon as the sun came up, the wind died down.  The engines were woken up from their slumber and we motored down towards Bimini, our jumping off point to the US.  With no wind to speak of, the sea state of the Gulf was pleasant, so I guess we can't complain too much.  However, It would have been better, and more fun, to sail.

The next morning as I came up on watch to relieve Maggie while Craig was fast asleep, I felt no need to change out of the pj's.  I was excited to do some last minute fishing, so I dropped in a line.  A little while later the girls and I heard music to our ears....Zzzzzzzz.  I quickly reeled it in but it ended up being a dumb ole barracuda.  I swear they are going to haunt me for the rest of my life.  I didn't want to wake Craig for a stupid barracuda, so Maggie and I managed to get the hook out of it's mouth and set it free.

 One last effort to send a message in a bottle in the gulf stream

Helllooooo Miami

Funny Characters

"Personality can open doors, but only character can keep them open." - Elmer G. Letterman

By Craig Boyer

Traveling by boat for a year opens the door to witness a great number of characters, good and bad.  We traveled over 8000 miles at an average speed of 6 knots.  This leisurely pace allowed us to observe and sometimes meet some unusual people along the way.  We didn't always have a camera handy but when we did, we captured the encounter.  Here is a small sampling of the characters we saw and/or met along the way.

Our first stop was in Rhode Island where we met wonderful people and made life long friends.  We loved Rhode Island and quickly understood why it was so popular with the rich and famous, but who knew it was an intergalactic destination.  I was truly star struck when I saw Boba Fett and his buddy vacationing in Newport.  I tried to talk to them, but they scootered off faster than a X-34 Landspeeder.

While in NYC I saw this guy.  Maybe this handsome coif has some cultural significance, but it looked like he was growing a giant ball of yarn on his head.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to meet this chap either to discuss his style as we had hungry kids pulling us down towards the hot dog stand. 

Time square has its share of hustlers.  At least this guy was honest!

The girls spotted this guy hanging out in the park while sharpening his “pet” chicken’s spurs when we were in Spanish Town, BVI.  He has a cool style too, I especially love the white cape.  Later we had to have a talk with the girls about befriending strangers in the park armed with a knife and a killer chicken.

Guys down in the caribbean dig nicknames.  We met quite a few characters with colorful names like
First Blood,  Hash Doctor, Assassin,  Big Pappa and Cobra.  All were way freindlier than their names implied. While in Dominica we met Stuff.  Yes, his name is really Stuff!  Or at least that's what he and everyone else called him.  Stuff was always asking us for money.   Turns out that Stuff is the friendliest homeless drug addict in the world.  He always had a smile even when everyone told him to get lost.  Somewhere along the line we wised up and started giving Stuff money when he provided a service like getting us fruit, which he happily did.  Here, I told him I’d pay him $5.00 EC ($2 USD) if he posed in a picture with me.  I have no idea what he is holding, but he is pretty proud of it.

On the creepier side was Ross.  We should have known he was trouble by the lack of a killer nickname.  He loved to dance with women, especially American women.  We first met Ross at reggae night where he demonstrated his dancing steps with a child's barrette in his beard.  Wendy had to be saved several times from the clutches of Ross.  He was so happy to see us at the Carnival kick off party that he attached himself to our little posse.  It was sort of cool until he started pulling the girls by the arm into the crowd and became a little territorial.  That's when we had to kick Ross off of the fun wagon rather sternly.

 Last but not least, we found Gandhi on his cell phone in St Lucia.

Great Harbor Cay

We have seen it all when it comes to boats.  We've encountered the smallest of run down sailboats, fishing boats, sailing cruise ships, tall ships, "pirate" ships, mega yachts and the infamous charter boats.  It wasn't until we rounded the northern tip of the Berry Islands did we run into the ocean going mega cruise ship.  Holy cruise ship, those boats are monsters!  They dwarf everything in sight as if it were a make believe model of an island.  We'd heard they were abundant in the Bahamas, but we had to see it to believe it.  And there is really no way of getting away from them, they are so tall that you can see them over the tops of the islands.  How do those things float and not tip over?  At first site, we wanted to turn around and go back to our deserted islands.  However, we were on to them.  We knew their schedule; when they arrived and when they left and we planned our visits accordingly.

At the top of the Berry Islands sat a small 'cruise ship only' island called Great Stirrup Cay.  The guide book said you have to have permission to go ashore from the cruise ship captain.  There were multiple ships 'parked' along the shores of Great Stirrup Cay.  I smugly thought to myself that it was a little fake  that these passengers thought that this was a deserted island only for them.  I guess it was and I shouldn't judge, but it doesn't seem deserted if you are sharing it with 5000 other cruise ship guests and there are hundreds of lounge chairs lined up along the beach.  I'm just saying.....

Needless to say, we kept right on going.  In fact, one of the cruise ships was preparing for departure.  As we sailed closer and closer, we watched as the passengers were loaded back onto the ship and the smoke stack started spewing black smoke and then the anchor went up.  Oh boy, we'd better call to make sure he sees us.  Do those things have a back up camera??  We were about to sail right behind him.  So, we hailed Mr. big ship and told him we were sailing behind and would he please not run us over.  He was happy to oblige.

We were headed to the western side Great Harbor Cay in search of wifi.  We were preparing to head back to the US and that meant a gulf stream crossing.  We needed to know the weather forecast for the next several days.  We anchored outside of Bullock Harbor and dinghied in to see what we could find.  A whole lot of small island town is what we found.  There were Manatees lounging around the yacht club docks.  We went back across the harbor and tied up the dinghy in an abandoned or perhaps newly constructed (thinking positive) deep water boat launch.  We walked ashore and found a boat yard, post office, a small grocery store and a restaurant.  That's about it with exception to the homes in which the locals live.

 I reel in the extra lines while Craig reels in the fish

Oh man, it's another barracuda.  We caught 3 of these on this particular day.  It is such a bummer they are not good eatin'!

 See what I mean about the ship dwarfing the island (and that is no small island)

 Finally, a fish we can eat, a really nice big eye tuna.  We are not letting this one get away

A BIG tuna!

 A quiet sunset

 A hungry Manatee greets us at the dock where we stopped in the dinghy to ask for directions

 Eating lunch at Coullie Mae's restaurant by the sea - local Bahamian fare

Ouch, another toe casualty.  It's a good thing we are almost home, Craig is running out of toes to hurt.

 Liv reels in her catch

Leaving the rough Bullock Harbor Anchorage behind, we sailed across the shallow water to make our way back around the north tip.  Our plan was to see how many cruise ships were anchored and determine if they were all leaving for the night so we could stay the night in their protective anchorage before heading back to the eastern side of Great Harbor Cay.  Once we were underway, Olivia begged Craig to fish.  At first he said no because the water was too shallow and all she would catch was a barracuda.  Well, her persistence paid off or Craig was worn down, what ever the case may be, Olivia threw in a line.  Not only did she cast her line, she challenged Maggie to a little fishing tournament.  Maggie declined.  Once Olivia caught a little Cero, Maggie decided she was game.  She threw her line in and waited.....and waited....and waited.  Just as we approached the deeper water and were making our turn north, Zzzzzzzz, the line took off.  This time it didn't stop!  The fish was strong and fast.  He ran the line out to 900 feet!  Craig and Maggie fought the line while I slowed the boat down.  And then slowed it down more.  And then slowed it down to a stand still.  The fish was still fighting.  I turned the boat around and started heading towards it!  It was insane.  This fish was a fighter.  We could tell he was dodging in and out of rocks trying to cut himself loose.  The beast was eventually reeled in and victory was declared for Maggie!

 Liv's Cero (we let it go cuz it was kinda small)

 Craig attaches the fishing pole belt so Maggie can reel in her determined fish

The fish lost the fight.....Maggie's huge Mutton Snapper

 Passing the cruise ship island again - can you make out the hundreds of blue lounge chairs and the imported palm trees (not judging).

We arrived at the cruise ship island at about 3pm and there were 3 cruise ships getting ready to leave.  Ahhh, peace and quiet.  We pulled into a small protected area where several other boats were anchored (presumably awaiting departure to the US).  We jumped in and swam a bit and then it was time to make dinner and go to bed.  We didn't even venture ashore to check out all those lounge chairs.  The following morning, we moved over to Sugar Beach on the eastern shore.

 Making homemade tootsie rolls

The girls built a swing to pass the time

 Our anchorage between Shelling Beach and Hawks Nest Cay - at low tide the sand is out of the water (all the light green color in the middle of the screen)

 Maggie going out for a spin

 There goes Olivia

She looks like a pro - even if she has adult work gloves on!  Those are her "sailing gloves"

 Last look at our boat floating in clear water alongside a Bahama beach

Last picture of clear water and white sand beaches

Deserted Islands

What would you take if you were going to be on a deserted island?   Lucky for us we had our home!  We had everything we needed when we arrived at Hoffman's Cay.  There was not a soul around or a boat in sight as far as we could see.  Spectacular!  We inched our way around the north end of Hoffman's Cay but it was too shallow to get into protected waters if the wind were to shift.  What? Too shallow for a catamaran?  Get outta town!  I know, it was crazy to think that was possible.  We did drop anchor in a spot that we thought would be okay.  The sun was high in the sky, we had plenty of time to decide.  Heck, we had nothin' but time.

I jumped in the water to explore our surroundings, hoping to score more sea treasures.  If you have snorkeled before, you are familiar with the quiet sound of fish feeding on the coral reefs and not a whole lot of anything else.  It was a peaceful feeling floating along on the surface of the calm water and the afternoon sun warming my back.  So you can imagine my fright when I turned my head and was being stared down by a big ugly barracuda.  I let out an uncontrollable squeal and decided my exploring was complete.  At least in that area.  I swam to the boat and climbed up on the swim platform, only to be confronted by two girls getting suited up to snorkel.  We decided to go the opposite direction of the barracuda that I encountered.  There wasn't much sand on the shallow bottom.   It looked more like an under water golf course, with long green grass swaying in the ebb and flow of the waters movement.  We swam over to a sand trap and found a handful of sea biscuits and shells around the perimeter.  As we made our way back to the boat guess what we happened upon?  Yep, you guessed it.....a ginormous barracuda.  It must have been the granddaddy to the one I saw earlier.  He was huge and UGLY!  Those teeth are menacing and reminiscent of shark teeth.   He was staring Kate down.  At first, Kate was oblivious.  Then I brought it to her attention when I called her name, muffled by my snorkel, and motioned her to swim to me (FYI....Liv was already next to me).  Rationally, I knew he was not out to eat us but emotionally I thought he was going to attack Kate.  Particularly because every time Kate moved, he moved, in the same direction.  It was like a game of cat and mouse.  Needless to say it made me very uncomfortable.  And if he hadn't been sooo big, I might not have reacted like a lunatic (I prefer protective) mother.  So I immediately raised my head above water, spit out my snorkel and hollered over to the boat to get Craig's attention.  I was screaming and he couldn't make out what I was actually saying, so he and Maggie assumed we were in trouble and proceeded to drop the dinghy in the water in record time.  In about 60 seconds flat, the dinghy was there and we were scrambling inside.  Kate was shook up and my heart was racing and Craig was left feeling relief that it wasn't a shark in the water (cuz that's what he thought!).  All was well and we decided that if we couldn't swim by the boat without a family of barracuda preying on us, we'd move anchorages.  We scooted across the way to Market Fish Cay which had a white sandy beach and access to the ocean side.  It proved to have better protection from wind and swells and be a better place to snorkel without barracudas!

 View from the back door

 A pelican walks along the spit between islands in our anchorage 

 Checking out the scene on shore

 Hey, look what I found...a lost marker?

Fort building by Kate - held in place by the wind

A little daddy, daughter time in the fort

Did I mention we were all alone?

Nothing but the sea, the sand and the sun

 Collecting sea treasures

Upon snorkeling in our private anchorage I saw as many as 20 sea biscuits making tracks in the sand (underwater)!  It was so incredible to see them alive and moving.   I also spotted a finger star fish crawling along the sea floor.  I picked it up to show the girls and even contemplated keeping it as a souvenir but I couldn't bring myself to kill a living thing.  I put it back on the bottom and watched it make new tracks across the sand.  So cool!

 Craig spends his time making new lures for our next fishing expedition

Collecting and rinsing off the shells and sea glass we collected

Craig took Maggie and I to the ocean side of Hoffman's Cay to collect sea glass.  We had to swim ashore because it was a steep beach with breaking waves (impossible to land the dinghy in those conditions).  Once on the beach, we found lots and lots of sea glass.  We told Craig to come back in 30 minutes to get us, which in hind sight was not nearly long enough to thoroughly comb the beach.  We also saw several sea turtle tracks leading from the waters edge to the berm where mounds of sand were formed (presumable with lots of turtle eggs).  These were no small sea turtles either.  We could tell by how big the tracks were, that these were big mommas!  The tracks literally looked like a tractor tire.  In fact, Maggie asked me if they were tire tracks when she first spotted them.  I was really bummed that I didn't have my camera with me.

Sorting by color

Lots and lots of pretty shells

Sea Urchins

Perfect sand dollar

Collecting fire wood

 Building and lighting the bon fire

 Watching fire....it's mesmerizing.  Don't be fooled by the fact that we have girls and Craig might be the only pyromaniac in the family.  Girls are equally entranced.

 Playing a little limbo while the bon fire gets big and hot

Sunset on our very own deserted island