Sailing in Bahamas wouldn't be complete for us without a picture of a shadow of the main reflected off the bottom (through clear water.)  Here it is.  AND....if you look really closely, you can see the faint shadow of the headstay!

Actually I can't see the headstay at this point, but I can see a grassy bottom.  Hooray for a beautiful sunny calm day.

    It was, as predicted, a beautiful day today. However, we went from too much wind to next to none. We left Man-O-Way Cay at 9:30 am and headed out into the Sea of Abaco. We raised the main, but not our hopes, in an attempt to sail. After about half an hour of drifting we decided to make our own wind and motorsailed across to Mermaid Reef, which is right outside the bight at Marsh Harbour. We dropped the hook at 11:00 and prepared for our first venture underwater this trip. The gear, provided by the Moorings was really quite good. Masks didn't leak and the flippers were comfortable and efficient. We were close enough to the reef to swim, but opted to take the dinghy closer. Kate is not a fan of cold water, so she remained aboard Second Treasure Just as we were about to head off, the crew of a catamaran, Felix the Cat, came by to ask if we knew where to go. They had just finished snorkeling and had a baggie of crackers left over from their adventure and offered them to us. They turned out to be quite a hit with the Sergeant Majors. Dan is almost as colorful as they are!

Mermaids Reef was just a colorful as the last time we were there even with the water being a little murky after all the high winds for the last 5 days.  Several different types of Parrot Fish, the skinny Ballyho and the everpresent grunts and sergeant majors.

         We had two different visitors right after we got out of the water. First a pair of porpoises passed right by us on their way into the harbor. We were treated to another visit from them while we took a sunset cruise once we had returned to the dock at the Moorings. The second visitors were Ed and Connie Dooley on their fast trawler. They were out for a ride with dock neighbors and we chatted and took pictures of their new boat. Dan also got a great shot of them as they returned from their trip to Hope Town. They also joined us for our sunset cruise this evening.

Dan caught two porpoises as they passed us out by the reef(upper left) and I had my smaller camera and got a few shots as we cruised around the harbor in our dinghy. The one, upper right, had a chunk missing from his dorsal fin.

Southern Pilot is an Island Pilot 435 and quite sleek and quite fast.  The sunset across the harbor was lovely and was greeted by a chorus of conch horns. Sadly mine is home --- too heavy to fly with!

Tomorrow brings another front with winds up to 30 knots, so we may opt to take an island ferry over to Hope Town for a visit. ~~~_/)~~~M&D, K&P

Phil hemming while we were hawing!  Note the dainty thread cutter on the table.

Less talk and more pix.  First off, I forgot to post the above picture yesterday.  Phil didn't think he'd be wearing long pants, but when he put them on they were too long.  A man of many talents!

     Today dawned clear and bright, but still mighty cool.  We decided to stay here a Man-O-War Marina for another day rather that fight with the problems entering either Hope Town or Little Harbor (has to be done - both entering and leaving - on a rising tide or at high tide).  We took an early dinghy ride to check out both the north and south harbors here.  It was necessary to have at least three layers on, but the sights were worth it.  Wind was less than yesterday, but still brisk.

Scenes from the morning ride. Upper right shows our stern (with the yellow horseshoe) nestled between two behemoths.

This being a dry island, we made Bloody Mary's and headed up the the "Dock & Dine" at the head of our dock for a leisurely lunch. Once back aboard we couldn't decide between napping or taking a golf cart tour. Luckily the Cruise Dictator decided for us and we rented a "buggy" for three hours. I didn't think we could find enough to see for three hours, but was pleasantly wrong. We took the Queen's Highway (which is just two golf carts wide at it's widest and often was just a sandy track) all the way to the north end of the island and were so glad of sun and scenery that three cameras were clicking A LOT.

 

Sea scenes from our travels.  Upper right show the narrowest point on the island. It looks like a very high tide might wash right over the "highway".  The middle shot is from the southern end - looking out toward Elbow Cay.  The beaches and waters were beautiful. 

The scenery shoreside was also interesting. We liked the developments and proposed developments of the northern end of the island best.

The whimsical fish gates were fun and the drive through a hedgerow picturesque.

      Tomorrow promises to be a short reprieve between two large and fast moving cold fronts, so we hope to sail about in the Sea of Abaco and maybe even snorkel on Mermaids Reef before heading back to Marsh Harbour before the next blast hits. ~~~_/)~~~M&D, K&P

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