It seems I should have clarified my first post about this Bahamas trip.  My parents, Bill and Jane Robinson, are both deceased, but my dad always impressed upon me the importance of their anniversary to me....without their union there'd be no ME!  So we raised a glass in their honor once we finally reached the Moorings base in Marsh Harbour, Abaco and boarded our Beneteau 41.3, Second Treasure.  The trip down to Nassau from BWI was quick and easy and we had over two hours before our Bahamas Air puddle jumper to Marsh Harbour.  Ha Ha Ha.  The immigration line put Disney World during spring break to shame!  An hour and a half later we were rushing to catch a shuttle bus to the old terminal to make or next flight.  We did make it with about two minutes to spare and still landed in MH twenty minutes early. We were aboard Second Treasure by 5:30 and had our boat briefing before we could get ice and a drink to celebrate our arrival!  We had a pleasant dinner on the patio of the Conch Inn's restaurant, Curly Tails, right here at our marina.  We lugged cameras all day, but didn't get inspired to get any of them out, so off to bed early.

     We were all up early  today, and got busy familiarizing ourselves with the boat and the stores that Moorings had put aboard, and studying the paperwork we needed to complete before the 9:00 am cruise briefing.  It was all very well done and we still feel they do the best job for preparing you and the boat for a successful cruise.  Before we headed up to the briefing, Ed Dooley (a former Catalina 400 owner and good friend) stopped by to fill us in about all he and Connie have learned in the three weeks they have been here in the Abacos.  We joined them for lunch at the Jib Room, just a dinghy ride across the harbor, where they have taken a slip.  They also gave us a tour of their new boat, an Island Pilot 435, a fast trawler, call Southern Pilot...and fast is NOT a misnomer.  She can make 33 knots when up on a plane.  They averaged 17 knots on their crossing from Florida.  They also directed us to Pete & Kathy and John & Betty's favorite place that sells frozen Bahamian lobster at wholesale prices.  We came back aboard with some.  A few more trips to find last minute supplies and it was cocktail time before we knew it.  SOOOOooo... It wasn't until after a pleasant cocktail around the marina pool that we got the camera going and this is the sum total!  We hope Phil and Dan continue their bonding experience and that Kate and I smile more!  Good night!    

     ~~~_/)~~~D&M,  K&P

2-27-2013 6_58_23 AM

  Well, it is my parents's 71st wedding anniversary and to celebrate we're heading down to Marsh Harbour in the Abacos to charter a Moorings 41.3 with our neighbors, Phil and Kate Pennington.  We'll try to keep  the blog going and thrill you all with new great pictures.  Here's the scene out the window here in Spring Grove, lake WAY down and drear abounds.  ~~~_)~~~ Martha & Dan

Testing, 1,2,3 ...from the iPad

We are back home now,  but I'm trying to experiment with sending a blog post from the iPad.  My camera did not recover from its last submersion, so I downloaded some of George's camera.  If this works, you'll see some of them.

While we were anchored at Emerald Rock, we visited the coral head site where we had seen so many lobsters last year.  No lobsters this time, but George went in hot pursuit of a pair of Eagle Rays and got a great picture of one of them.  He had a remora hovering under his right "wing".

We were treated to several wonderful sunsets and Lisa and I managed to use a screw driver and winch handle (there was an amazing lack of any tools on a charter boat)  and nail file to knock the top off a conch shell we had found on the beach in The Majors to fashion a conch horn.  We were successful and were able to herald the closing of another wonderful day.

Our last day was spent at the new departure building of Nassau's airport.  It offered 4G  and free wifi and lots of shops and eateries. 

Adios for now ~~~~_/)~~~~ M&D, L&G

It's Sunday and we're still at Emerald Rock in Exuma Park. We took a dinghy ride yesterday to the southeast side of Warderick Wells to check out the Pirate's Lair. No pirates, but a curly tailed lizard took a shine to Dan's shoe


We were surprised at the size of our dinghy, it's an 8 passenger beast, but it is a very comfortable ride.


After lunch aboard we headed into the park office to sign up for another day of wi-fi and took a hike up to BooBoo Hill. Sadly the sign we put there last year was not to be found.


The weekly Saturday night beach party last night was well attended, including at least three Hutias. The Hutia is a Bahamian native rodent that is on the endangered list, but they seemed to like a good party!


We are planning to head out in an hour or so on our way back north. We plan to spend tonight at Shroud Cay and then Highborne Cay on Monday night. Not likely to have wi-fi, so the next post will probably be from Nassau when we return there Tuesday. ~~~_/)~~~M&D,L&G

2/19- Conch Prep on Potters Cay, Nassau


Maxwell making the Conch Salad


2/21 Heading for Little Farmer's Cay where we met Rob & Carol on Bella


We found J.R. busy carving - note his delicate tool - as we walked around Farmer's Cay, we and bought an OWL.


2/23 We visited the pig beach at Big Majors right after a mega-yacht had dumped LOTS of "slops" Note the 11 baby piglets at George's right elbow.

We've been here less than a week and have already seen TWO green flashes! This one was at Big Majors. We are now at Emerald Rock in the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park and snorkeled on some reefs yesterday where my camera ended up shipping some water, so no more underwater pix. This is the last image I "took"

~~~_/)~~~M&D, L&G

We all arrived safely in Nassau on Saturday and had finished our run-through of Grand Illusion by 5:30 pm. Spacious, yes, well equipped, no! It's much tougher to walk aboard a true BARE boat after being able to have everything including the kitchen sink right at your finger tips! Here it is Tuesday, we've met up with Rob and Carol, aboard their newly acquired Sabre 38 and had to beg for a "little bit of string". Can you imagine being aboard without even a little bit of string. Alright, nyah nyah nyah, enough complaining. WE ARE HERE and its great to be back. The weather has been very cooperative and after spending Sunday provisioning and doing a little adventuring around Nassau, we headed out early Monday morning.

Provisioning ....I know you all think we're experts at it, but starting from scratch was a daunting task and it took three different trips to different stores (City Market is under new management and is NOT what it used to be. The new Super Value is quite good, but far enough away that it required a taxi ride back each time. We did have one wonderful adventure at lunch on Sunday. We walked to Potter's Cay where one can get great Conch Salad. We were wandering around trying to decide which colorfully painted shack would produce the best Conch Salad when Roosevelt accosted us on the street and pulled me into The Blue Hole promising his was the best.

We succumbed and gathered along the bar. Roosevelt then took Lisa and me through the back door to watch him hammer a hole in the conch shell, cut out the muscle that holds it in place and peel off the tough skin.

We then went back to the bar to watch Maxwell (who miraculously had all his fingers) wield a machete like knife while chopping onions, tomatoes, green peppers, a miniscule amount of some red HOT pepper and then the fresh conch at lightning speeds. The final touch was to sprinkle it all with salt, lime juice and orange juice. We ware amazed how delicious and how spicy it was.

With the forecast promising NW and NE winds for the next two days we decided to head as far south as possible and spend the rest of the trip leisurely heading back up the Exuma chain. We pushed a bit on on Monday and made it to Hawksbill where we picked up a mooring and had a slightly rolly night but full of stars and a pleasant breeze. We didn't do any exploring as we wanted an early start to shoot all the way to Little Farmer's Cay today.

The day turned out to be one of those crackerjack days when everything goes beautifully. Perfect winds, calm waters and an easy close reach all the way to Farmer's . We were averaging between 7 and 8 knots and were very glad for the extra speed a 50 foot boat gives you. There are no wind aboard instruments, so can't tell you the exact direction or velocity, but 10-15 kts. seems about right.

We took a mooring about 5 minutes before Rob and Carol arrived and took one right behind us. It was fun to catch up with them and they had arranged for dinner ashore at Ocean Cabin for the best lobster dinner, and definitely the best price in the islands. The plan is to go ashore tomorrow morning and use the wi-fi at Ocean Cabin to send this.....~~~_/)~~~M&D .....no wi fi at Ocean Cabin and lousy signal here at Emerald Rock(on Friday), so pix will have to wait. We've had great sails, good snorkeling and lots of fun so far.

We are here!

We all arrived at Grand Illusion yesterday afternoon, had the run though of all systems and still made it to the liquor store before it closed. We're at Starbucks for breakfast and wifi before heading to.......THE GROCERY STORE. Some things never change.