Return to the States - 2016

May 26, 2016

We are currently in Miami after a quick trip back from the Bahamas.

This year we spent almost 5 months visiting Abaco, Eleuthera, Cat Island, Great Exuma, and the Exuma Cays.  We have Bahamians on each of these islands that we call 'family' - we are truly blessed to know them.

Bahamian courtesy flag after 5 months
Some years we have replaced it during the winter, this one JUST made it through the season!

Our return trip was planned around several troublesome weather systems (see Trip Planning for more detail) that went pretty much as expected.  We covered around 250 nautical miles in 5 days, including a final 28 hour, 159 mile leg between New Providence (island where Nassau is located) and Miami.

Sunrise on the Bahama Bank
Sunrise & Sunset at sea never get old!

We moved up our departure from New Providence by a day to Monday, because the forecast for "great westward sailing on Tuesday - Thursday" turned into "westward sailing for salty sailors only" (translation high winds and squalls).

This final leg turned into motoring the whole way in fairly tranquil wind and seas, EXCEPT for a terrible squall we encountered about two hours out of New Providence.  It featured torrential rain, a lot of lightning, and for the first time at sea, hail!  Thankfully the wind in the squall was mild most of the time, except for a brief interval of 30 knot winds; believe me, hail on your face in a 30 knot wind hurts!

This year we were lucky to get a mooring at Coconut Grove Sailing Club on our return, where we will be based in Miami for a week or so.  We really enjoy this city, but it is quite a culture shock after 5 months in the Bahamas.  It is so different here!

We will not be returning to Twin Dolphin Marina in Bradenton this summer.  We put our name on a waiting list there last December, but they did not make a suitable slip available for us.  The marina market is getting crazy here -  more demand than supply - much different than when we bought our boat in 2009!  This year the boat will be at Rose Marina in Marco Island.  This is a 'boat yard' marina with fewer amenities than Twin Dolphin, but the people are nice and the docks secure.


Tom
Moored Coconut Grove Sailing Club
Miami, FL

Headed Back to the States & Summer Weather

May 19, 2016

Barefoot at anchor at Black Point
Photo Credit Greg Sadowski

On this stay we have spent about a week and a half here in Black Point, one of our 'homes' in the Bahamas.  We had planned to stay a little longer, but weather is encouraging us to get moving.

Everyone worries about the winter cold fronts, and they do have to be taken seriously.  They can come through with strong clocking winds, squalls and thunderstorms.  But winter cold fronts are fairly predictable.

When summer approaches, the weather gets more unpredictable.  The cold fronts lose power and do not push through, but rather stall and dissipate.  This often creates, what are called in meteorology, troughs.  These are unorganized areas of low pressure that can bring unsettled weather to an area for days and even sometimes weeks.

Also at this time of year, 'tropical waves' start coming from the south and east.  These are also unorganized areas of low pressure that originate in the tropics.  If they start to show vorticity (spin) they are a tropical low, if they gain strength, they are a a Tropical Storm; then they can become Hurricanes.  At this time of year it is unlikely the waves will get organized (but not impossible - a Tropical Storm passed over us in Miami in May a few years ago) , but even if they don't, they bring moist unsettled weather like a trough.

It seems that over 5 years of cruising, we have faced our most difficult weather conditions in early Summer when these conditions prevail.

So with that background, here is our passage plan back to Miami with weather considerations:

• Leg 1 (Friday 5/20)  will be from Black Point up to Highbourne Cay in the northern Exumas.  Two days ago a cold front came through the Northern Bahamas and South Florida bringing strong thunderstorms to that whole area.  It stalled north of us killing most of the wind here.  This leg will be motoring, maybe with some motor-sailing.

Surface Analysis for departure Friday 5/20
Note stalling front across north Florida

Wind at departure Friday 5/20

• Leg 2 (Saturday 5/21) will be from Highbourne Cay to West Bay on the island of New Providence (where Nassau is).  The purpose of these first two legs is to stage us for the arrival of another cold front Sunday.  We will probably stay In West Bay 3 nights allowing the front to pass.

Second cold front arriving Sunday 5/22 - Monday 5/23

• Why not just stay in Black Point for this second front, the protection from the forecast light west winds is about the same.  Well, a tropical wave is forecast to arrive in the southern Exumas late next week and proceed northward, bringing squally, rainy weather. Our move north will hopefully keep us ahead of the tropical wave and give us a couple of days with moderate east wind before the squally weather associated with the tropical wave moves north. 
• Leg 3 (Tuesday 24 - Wednesday) will feature a midday departure from West Bay, up the 'Tongue of the Ocean' to the 'Northwest Channel', then crossing the Bahama Bank over night, exiting the Bank at Gun Cay, and proceeding across the Gulf Stream to Miami. Hopefully we will complete this leg straying ahead of the tropical wave.

Whew!  I am sure more than you ever wanted to know, but this is cruising!

Tom
Anchored Black Point
Exuma Cays

Mother's Day - Ebenezer Union Baptist Church

May 10, 2016

On our final day at Emerald Bay Marina on Great Exuma, we attended Sunday service at our home-church here, Ebenezer Union Baptist Church in Rolleville.

Mother's Day is always a special day here.  Pastor Adam Joseph Brown, although a passionate preacher, is usually in control emotionally, but Mother's Day seems to be an emotional day as he remembers his mother and grandmother that raised him.

He preached a wonderful sermon on an unnamed  'great woman' from 2 Kings 4:8-37.

Towards the end of the service he called all the mothers and mothers-to-be up to the front of the church to be recognized.  He then asked that the rest of the congregation go forward to wish each of them a happy Mother's Day (Bahamian church services don't pay much attention to the clock).

During this time, he broke into a solo rendition of an old song that we had previously sung - 'If I Could Hear My Mother Pray Again'.  From congregational singing, which often is without musical accompaniment at Ebeneezer, we knew he had a strong voice but this emotional rendition was incredible - he could be a gospel singer.

Following is a recording of the song he sang - it is NOT him singing - he was much better.

On Monday May 9, we traveled from Emerald Bay up Exuma Sound to Black Point.  The wind was from the ESE at 15-20 knots, gusting to 23 and we had a great, but bumpy sail.  East winds quickly build up a wind chop across Exuma Sound.

We sailed with our head sail only, having lost the use of our main sail on our sail from Cat Island a while ago.  Our sail track (which holds the sail to the mast) developed some cracks and portions of it chipped out, making the attachment of the sail to the mast, tenuous at best.  Fortunately, this is the 'best time' in the trip for this to happen.  A mainsail is most important sailing to windward, and most of our return trip will feature the prevailing easterly winds on our beam or behind us.

We plan to spend about 2 weeks here in Black Point, before starting our trip back to the States


Tom
Anchored Black Point, Exuma.

Great Exuma - Regatta & Nicknames

May 3, 2016

We have been docked at Emerald Bay Marina on mainland Exuma for about a month - a relatively long marina stay.

Aside from enjoying the 'big' island and its resources, our stay allowed Joyce to fly back to the States for a quick medical checkup (all is well) and enjoy the National Family Island Regatta (NFIR).

The NFIR is the 'super bowl' of the Bahamas.  Sloop racers from throughout the Bahamas come to Georgetown for the competition.  It is also one of the biggest parties of the year.  When we say to many Bahamians that we are going to Regatta to watch the races, they often respond, "We don't go for the races".

The racers compete in three classes (A, B, and C); all three are  'rocket ships' with an enormous amount of sail relative to their length.

We have become friends with many of the sloop racers and builders over the years, particularly from Black Point, our 'home' here in the Bahamas.  It is great to 'hang out' with sailors and supporters  and watch the races.  This year Black Point had four Class C sloops  ('Crazy Partner', 'H20', 'Smashie', and 'Lady Eunice') and one Class A sloop ('Red Stripe') competing. It was not the best year for the Black Point boats but they competed well.

"Red Stripe" - Class A Sloop from Black Point

Stephan Knowles of Long Island (Bahamas) repeated as the winner of the C and B class series on 'Whitty K' and 'New Susan Chase';  He also came in second in the A class series which was won by 'Lady Muriel' of Staniel Cay.  If Stephan had won the A series, it would have been the first sweep of all three major classes in Regatta history.

It was a big year, however, for honorees from Black Point; each year they honor 3+ individuals that have had a significant impact in the Regatta over the years.

When I first saw the posters showing the honorees, I saw one that really looked like a friend from Black Point, but I did not recognize the first name - Efford.   I called our friend Peermon in Black Point who confirmed that it was in fact the man I knew as 'Kem'.   Now a significant fact in this story is that 'Kem is a man of few words.  Probably 2-3 years ago I asked him what his name was and now I am pretty sure he responded Kemp - his last name.  At that time, apparently, I didn't hear the 'p' and I have been been calling him 'Kem' since that time.  True to his nature, he has never corrected me.  I only learned his real first name from the poster.

But the Bahamian name story has more to it.  He has crewed on the class A boat 'Tida Wave' of Staniel Cay going back to the legendary Rolly Gray days.  Rolly gave him the nickname 'Jim'  to which he still proudly answers.  Why 'Jim' - I have no idea, except the theory that it was a one syllable name that made communication easier in race conditions.  Now I am not sure if I should call him Efford or Jim!

Efford (Jim) before the award ceremony with two of his sons.
Edgar on the left, Kelly on the right - both Inspectors with the Royal Bahamian Police

Efford has his best finish in the last C class race with a 6th place finish on 'H20'.

"H20 - C Class Sloop from Black Point
Efford hooking up the bilge pump - the boats have a large open cockpit and are prone to sinking in heavy weather/seas!!

Morris 'Tom' Rolle, skipper of the C class sloop 'Lady Eunice' had a tough Regatta; the owner of the boat had shortened the mast for heavy wind conditions, which left Morris with too little sail for the moderate wind conditions this year.  But now on to another nickname story.  Although I knew who he was, I personally met Morris just this year.  Morris is probably Efford's opposite word-wise, he always seems to have something to say.

"Lady Eunice"  - Class C Sloop from Black Point

When I was introduced to Morris, the very first thing he said to me, jokingly, was "You can't use (the name) Tom, I have a claim on it".  Since then it has been somewhat of a running joke between us as we meet, that I need to get a nickname and be called something other than Tom around Black Point (and Regatta).  Hanging out a few days before the races began, 'Magic', another Black Point sailor proposed an outrageous bet to Morris - "If you (Morris) place in the top 3, you can keep 'Tom'  and give (me) a nickname; if you (Morris) place lower than that, you need a new nickname.  It was never a serious proposal and Morris never really accepted.  Of course as I noted in the first part of this section, Morris did not have a good regatta and placed well below 3rd.  When I ran into him after the races, he was as quiet as I have ever seen him and he said, "Well I guess I can't use the name Tom anymore".  I assured him that I never took the 'bet' seriously and would never take his nickname.

A few other pictures from Regatta:

"Crazy Partner" - C Class Sloop from Black Point

"Catch da Cat" - Class C Sloop from Cat Island
I 'helped' master-boat-builder Mark Knowles build her last year on Cat Island

"Smashie'  Class C Sloop from Black Point awaiting her new paint job before Regatta
Built, owned, and sailed by our good friend Van Fergsuon
Van has been honored on both the Exuma and Regatta-wide 'Halls of Fame'

Trophies awaiting the award ceremony

Our stay here wasn't all Regatta though.  We (although more me in Joyce's absence) had some great times with our friends at Ebeneezer Union Baptist Church in Rolleville.

Ebenezer Union Baptist in Rolleville
Our church-home on mainland Exuma

A few random pictures from Exuma:

Turtle hanging out in the marina

Mrs. Nixon's Pea Soup - Yum Yum!
Real Bahamian food - delicous dumplings
Americans would call this a 'stew'.
Lighthouse Cafe, Steventon

Very 'nice' crypts in the Barreterre cemetery
They look very comfortable :-)

We had planned to leave mainland Exuma on Tuesday (5/3), but an unusually strong cold front for this time of year appears to be coming later in the week, making Black Point an unattractive anchorage.  So we will probably now leave here next weekend or early next week.

Oh well - 'suffering horribly' as we head off to one of our favorite restaurants (Santana's on Little Exuma) for lunch.

Tom
Docked Emerald Bay Marina
Great Exuma