Sunday...a day of rest...NOT.  We woke up ---no we got up, I'm not sure anyone slept much after a VERY WINDY, VERY ROLLY night.  The first sight was someone less fortunate than we.

This Gulfstar had opted to save the $20 mooring fee and anchored.....not a good idea.  Luckily as we left around 9:45 (half tide) he was almost vertical and had a strong long anchor line to windward.  We hope he got off!

The seven mile ride from Great Guana Cay to Man-O-War Cay was dead downwind and we opted to go with "bare poles" and made good time through windy but not too rough seas. There were no moorings available in the harbor, so we took a berth at the Marina. Thank goodness the slip was an upwind one, I wasn't interested in testing the strength of our reverse to try to stop on a dime downwind in 25+ knots of wind! We are neatly tucked in between two very "tall" vessels and glad of it. The wind if anything is stronger tonight. We tend to heel over (here in the slip) when a puff comes along!. We found that everything shuts down on Sunday on Man-O-War Cay, so we had lunch aboard and took a walk around the town. What a change from our last two trips which had coincided with "Sojer Days", a heritage celebration which brought out all sorts of arts, crafts and foods along with lots of people. This time as we walked the deserted streets the few people we saw puttered by in their golf carts...almost everyone of them had small dogs with them---all wearing sweaters!

One thing we were very excited about (notice the SHADOW of Dan's thumbs up) on our walk around town, the sun came out!  Not that we were able to shed any of our 4 layers, but we enjoyed our walk, especially one home with a clever artistic occupant.  We loved all their sculptures.

A yummy dinner aboard---The Moorings did a good job of provisioning us---and we're ready for a slightly quieter, or at least less rolly night. ~~~_/)~~~M&D, K&P

       We were less enthusiastic about listening to the Cruiser's Net this morning because we could see that today didn't look any better than yesterday...and maybe a little grayer, colder, windier AND wetter!  We headed off at 9:40 after a quick trip ashore to dump garbage and other things and rolled out the jib for the first time.  The trip to Great Guana Cay was just over two hours and we noticed that the cut between Whale Cay and Great Guana was a little bumpy, but the rain held off until we were almost there.

While Cap't. Dan steered us toward Great Guana, Martha and Kate hunkered down and read their Kindles while Phil practiced his harmonica down below.

        We picked up a mooring ball (after several tries---lousy boat hook, lotsa wind and a less responsive helm than Brunelle) in time for Bloody Mary's before our trip ashore to visit Nipper's Restaurant for lunch.  We have heard Nipper's advertised on the Cruisers Net on each or our previous trips, but had never had the pleasure. What a place. The walk through town was uneventful, and we headed across the island toward the windward side.Our first inkling of what to expect came as we walked up the track towards Nipper's.

We had to get a picture of this for our grandson Ben but didn't realize it was an indication of what we were about to see!

Nipper's is really colorful and the gray skies didn't dull its charm. 

Nipper's is famous for wild Saturday night parties, but at lunch time on a dreary day we had the place almost to ourselves. We had a wonderful lunch (inside) and enjoyed watching the Atlantic broil along the eastern beach.

     We were back aboard by 4:00 and napped, read and relaxed until a Bahamian feast of our Bahamian Lobster and  our version of "peas and rice".  The worst of the rain came during the late afternoon and evening as we snuggled below.  Our sunscreen is not getting much use, but we all agree we are enjoying ourselves.  ~~~_/)~~~ M&D, K&P

     We listened to the cruiser's net at 8:15 am this morning, which begins with a weather report, and realized we may not get to use the mask, snorkel and fins that come supplied with the boat.  We're in for two successive fronts this week and the winds are strong and from the NW for most of it.  We decided to venture out and head for Treasure Cay.  This is new territory for us, and Rosie, our Moorings guru, said there was plenty of room for anchoring in the protected harbor and the beach on the northeast side was listed by the National Geographic as one of the 10 best beaches in the world.  We left the dock at 10:00 am and powered directly into the wind  for the 12 mile trip to Treasure Cay.  Not a whole lot of traffic on Abaco Sound as we motored along.  (Steve and George will appreciate this---) We had a brief man overboard drill when we realized the dinghy had decided to come untied!  This boat has HUGE aft cleats and a double cleated skinny dinghy painter managed to wee-waw it's way off!   It was retrieved without much ado and we continued  on our way.



The entrance to Treasure Cay has one skinny spot, so we entered slowly but never saw less than 9 feet. The harbor was fairly full but with the help of friendly neighbors we found a spot and Dan was even offered a glass bottom bucket to check the anchor set. The harbor was too murky for the bucket, so he did use his mask and snorkel to check it. We dinghied in and walked across the narrow strip of land that divides the marina from the famous beach. We were all warmly dressed, so no cheesecake pix from this group! We stopped at the Coco Beach Bar for a quick drink before hitting the bakery on the way back to the boat.   Dinner aboard.  We christened the grill with big burgers. We're now enjoying the lovely hummmm of the 1.5 hour (2X daily) engine charge needed to keep the refrig and house batteries up to snuff. Just like the old days on my parent's CSY 37
Brunelle.

A sunny day would have increased the beauty 10 fold, but it was gorgeous all the same.

~~~_/)~~~M&D and K&P

     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