Time to pack up to leave

This will probably be my last post for this trip – time to pack up the boat for our return to Toronto. It feels bittersweet – we hate leaving this beautiful place, but we’re very ready for the return to our family, friends, home and Toronto activities after 13 weeks away! And there’s lots to look forward to apart from that – a family ski trip to Tremblant, including meeting our new great-niece, a wedding in Vancouver, some work with Schulich and of, course, our Summer sojourn in New Brunswick. Tough life ... J.

This past week has been low-key – a wonderful few days in Red Shanks, exploring new places in the Bay with our dinghy, walking on the beach and eating dinner in the cockpit under beautiful sunsets, now that the sun is setting later.

Yesterday was a highlight – we took a trip to explore the Exuma Foundation – set up to research permaculture and educate people about the many species of plant life on the Island. It also has a bee-keeping operation, to which we were introduced, surrounded by busy bees flying in and out of their hive! Our very knowledgeable 16-year-old local guide stood among them – fearless! We tasted the fresh honey from the honeycomb, and bought small jars as souvenirs. We also were offered cold lemongrass tea at the end, and I took some lemongrass back to the boat to make my own – delicious.

The only down side was that both Jeff and I ended the day with a touch of heat stroke from too much sun and no wind to cool us off yesterday. As a result, not much was accomplished towards packing – but today we really start.

So this is “good-bye” for this year – I hope you’ve enjoyed these posts. I’ll look forward to seeing many of you back home in a week.

Gunkholing in the Southern Harbour (written yesterday)

After a day of laundry, filling with water and provisioning, we decided our challenging 5-hour trip on the Bahama Sound last Saturday was enough wild adventure for now.

So we’re giving up on crossing the Sound to the out Islands this year, and instead will be spending our last week before packing up “gunkholing” on this side of the Sound (puttering from bay to bay).

Yesterday, we explored a new place, called Moriah Cay – a gorgeous little unprotected bay about 1.5 hours from George Town. The air and water were still for a change – so we swam off the boat, and dinghied around the Cay, taking pictures of the beautiful deserted beaches and craggy coral shoreline.

But today the wind blew up again, and the sky clouded and threatened a storm. Moriah’s not a good place to be in a rough sea, so we weighed anchor at 9:30 am, and made a dash for Red Shanks – about a half hour away. Not a minute too soon – the rain came down in sheets just after we anchored – very glad to be here. So it was a rainy day at the “cottage” – Jeff did all kinds of small boat projects, and I worked on Schulich stuff, baked brownies and cooked butter parmesan chicken wings for dinner. Jeff said they were the best he’d ever had J.

Time or Place – But Not Both!

There’s an old adage that when you meet to sail with friends, you plan a time or a place, but not both. That’s because sailing is so unpredictable in terms of the weather. This trip really proved that point! We had a lovely stay at Little Farmer’s Cay with Susan, including an amazing lobster dinner at a restaurant/bar called Ocean Cabin. Then, after filling up with water at the tiny perfect yacht club, we headed South on the Bahama Bank to Lee Stocking Island. This was the dream sail – 2.5 hours at 5-6 knots, with a Southeast wind at about 18 knots – gorgeous.

Then a rather bumpy night on the Island – foretelling the day to come. It included having to navigate two cuts – one out to the Bahama Sound from the Bank, and one into Emerald Bay, where we needed to be on Saturday, so that Susan could catch her plane to Toronto on Sunday.

The problem was, the wind was now blowing 23 knots, and we knew the Sound would be treacherous. We had to be very careful about crossing the cuts at the right tidal moment, so as not to end up like a toy boat in a washing machine – something we’d already experienced, and were not interested in repeating. So onward we went, having donned all of our safety gear – through the first cut, successfully. OK – one down and one to go. Meanwhile, the sea was insane – 8-10 foot crashing waves, pitching and rolling the boat, and spewing seawater into the cockpit. To her great credit, Susan was drenched, and even took a wave at one point, that sent her flying to the opposite side of the boat – but she kept up her good spirits throughout.

Unfortunately, we arrived at the second cut too early, and would have had to negotiate a half-hour of bouncing in the crazy waves to wait out the tide. Uh-uh – that was a no-go. So on we went for another 1.5 hours to arrive at George Town by tea and Bahama Mama time – soaked and exhausted, but very happy to be in a calm harbour! The lesson – ask friends to not purchase a return ticket until they are here. Had we been able to sit out the blow another day before returning to Exuma, everyone would have been happier. Time or place – but not both J.

Time Out

We’re having an unexpected rest time today, as the weather has turned nasty – a cold front with 23K winds and lots of cloud cover. So we’re hunkered down in the harbour at Little Farmer’s Cay, with each of us in our own cabin, having a “time out” for siestas, reading, e-mail, and I’m writing a blog post.

We spent the last few days, after celebrating Jeff’s birthday and exploring Elizabeth Harbour with Susan, sailing North. We spent a lovely day hiking and hanging out at Emerald Bay, and then sailed on to Lee Stocking Island, which was empty of boats and perfectly gorgeous. Gin-clear turquoise water invited us to swim, dinghy around, and finish the boat bottom cleaning - and the sunsets were spectacular.

A cold front was predicted to come in today, so we left early, around 8:30 a.m., and beat the North wind at 23 knots on large waves due North to Little Farmer’s Cay – a wild ride, but fun smashing into the surf! We stayed mainly dry, though the water came over the bow right up to our dodger (windscreen for non-sailors) – glad it was there!

Now we’re resting up, showering, and planning to go ashore for a lobster dinner at Ocean Cabin – a Bahamian style restaurant on the hill. Should be great. We’ll hang out here until the wind dies down or Friday arrives – whichever comes first. Then we’ll need to head South, back to Emerald Bay, so that Susan can taxi to the airport on Sunday morning. Another great visit with a good friend.

Radio Silence

Sorry for the radio silence! We are now enjoying our visit with friend Susan from Toronto, and I won’t have much time for blogging until she leaves next Sunday. Since she arrived on Thursday evening, we’ve been hanging out in Elizabeth Harbour, enjoying the beaches and quiet here, now that the Regatta is over. We celebrated Jeff's birthday together with a home-made cake and a gift of his favourite tequila - 72 years young.

Yesterday we hiked to the monument and over the hill to the ocean beach – a favourite activity with guests. It was low tide, and we were able to sit in the warm tide pools formed by the coral heads – kind of like a lukewarm hot tub – with the waves smashing around us – what a treat. Jeff stayed at the boat and donned his snorkel gear to work on cleaning the algae off the boat bottom. I think we got the better deal!

We spent the afternoon reading (Susan), watercolour painting (me), and sipping Bahama Mamas (all of us), before a bar-b-que steak and veggie dinner. A perfect day in Paradise J.

Today we sail North – with a little wind. We were planning to go East to Cat Island, but the wind is on our nose, so it won’t work this time – too bad. We’re definitely at the mercy of the elements here. But we’ll still have a lovely time – Susan is easy about whatever we do, so that helps.

Still no pics – I have lovely ones on my cell phone, and some day I’ll figure out how to transfer them to this blog site.