3rd Winter Cruise Complete

June 10, 2014

Today we made the short trip up the Manatee River to Twin Dolphin Marina to complete our third Bahamas Cruise.  We both agree, that in spite of some significant equipment problems, this has been our favorite year.

Our 'strategy' this year was to have longer, quality visits at places where we had previously visited and enjoyed, particularly where we had made significant relationships. Highlights of the trip included Green Turtle Cay and Marsh Harbour in the Abacos,  Rock Sound on Eleuthera, New Bight on Cat Island, Emerald Bay on Exuma, and Black Point in the Exuma Cays.   In each of these places we have Bahamian friends, some of whom we dare to call 'family'.

We were out this year for over 7 months and in the Bahamas for 5 1/2 months.Now we are docked back at Twin Dolphin enjoying air conditioning! We will be returning back to Syracuse in early July for our annual doctor, dentist, and friend visits and then back to the boat in August.

A few highlight pictures from our trip:

Dave's, New Plymouth, Green Turtle

Harbour View Marina, Marsh Harbour, Abacos

Sammy's Place, Rock Sound, Eleuthera

Cat Island Beach

Gifts of Bottled Tomatoes & Green Beans - Cat Island

Beautiful Bahamian smile at the Georgetown Primary school lunch 'window'

Peermon celebrating a narrow victory in the Mother's Day walk musical chairs

Joyce being eliminated in musical chairs - two young girls in the foreground were my 'dance partners'

Black Point Coastline

Bell Rock, Cambridge Cay

Many water colors at Cambridge Cay

SV Barefoot - Coconut Grove

I don't take many 'posed people' pictures, but at times like this I wish  I had more pictures of our many Bahamian friends.  Just know that each of these places has a rich set of them.

Tom
Docked at Twin Dolphin Marina
Bradenton, FL

Cayo Costa - 33rd Wedding Anniversary

June 7, 2014

We have spent a few days anchored in Pelican Bay on Cayo Costa Island, including our 33rd wedding anniversary.  Hard to believe we have been married that long - time flies!

On our anniversary we dinghied to Cabbage Key and had a great lunch of fresh gulf shrimp and burgers - yum.  Joyce is adamant, however, that this NOT our anniversary dinner, that will be be at the Columbia Restaurant at St. Armand's after our return to Bradenton.

We exchanged cards and my lovely wife gave me the PERFECT card.  With copyright credit to Hallmark, this is what it said:

For My Husband,

It has been an amazing journey to this place where we are-
          {Sailboat Image}
We started out, like many do,
with nothing but dreams in our pockets
and stars in our eyes.
Along the way, we met our share of obstacles.
But with love as our guide,
we've always enjoyed the adventure.
And now here we are,
so many miles and memories later..
deeper in love and stronger for the journey.
I know that we're right where we've always belonged...
         together.

Happy Anniversary
Love Joyce

I could not imagine a better wife, lover, and partner!  Love you too!

Although we love this place. we plan to leave early tomorrow to head up to the Bradenton area and we will be back at Twin Dolphin Marina on Tuesday.  Tomorrow will complete over 600 miles traveled in about three weeks, including two runs of 24+ hours - a lot of miles in a boat that travels about 6 MPH!  This is equivalent to a 6,000-mile car trip.

It is getting hot and not that comfortable at anchor.  We have a modest air conditioner, but we can only run it when we are plugged into shore power, so a dock is sounding pretty good right now!

Tom
Anchored Pelican Bay
Cayo Costa, FL

Miami and on to the Florida West Coast

May 30, 2014

We have been on a mooring at Coconut Grove Sailing Club for the last week.  It is a very pleasant place right in Miami (Coconut Grove) and we have enjoyed our 'reentry' into life in the States after over five months in the Bahamas.  A neat picture of Barefoot taken by a mooring neighbor from the top of his mast follows:

We enjoy Miami, but we didn't do much that we have not reported in previous blogs except for a couple of items:

• We enjoyed a great lunch at the Versailles Restaurant in Little Havana.       http://www.versaillesrestaurant.com/.  If you see the movie 'The Chef' (which we really enjoyed) it is the restaurant that they visit after listening to Inez's father perform salsa music at a club. We are big fans of the Columbia Restaurants based in Tampa, so this was a comparison visit.  The Columbia's bread and Mojitos's were, in our opinion, much better.  But we both enjoyed our entrees immensely (Imperial Rice for Tom and Vaca Frita De Pollo for Joyce), so we think it is a tie.  We will return!  While Miami is the center of Cuban-American culture today, many people do not realize that the first major Cuban population in Florida was on the West coast.  The Columbia first opened in 1905, when Miami was still mostly swamp; the Versailles opened in 1971!
• We toured the northern section of Coral Gables - very nice homes!  The Alhambra entrance near Little Havana is very impressive.

Tomorrow (Saturday, May 31) we plan to leave Miami and head to the west coast of Florida.  The weather is a bit unsettled (we expect to get at least a little wet), but it doesn't get better for at least a week and there is a possibility of an early season tropical storm late next week, so it seems best to get moving.  

Tomorrow we plan to head down the Hawk Channel to Rodriguez Key near Key Large where we will anchor for the night.  Then the next day we will continue on the Hawk Channel to Marathon, where we plan to lay over for two nights.  Then we will leave there in the morning on Tuesday June 3rd, to travel up out of the Keys and continue overnight for a 150+ nautical mile trip to Pelican Bay on Cayo Costa where we will 'hunker down' for any bad weather.  

Tom

Moored Coconut Grove Sailing Club

Miami, FL

We have returned to the States

May 24, 2014

Just a short note that we have arrived back in the States.

We traveled over 250 miles in the last 5 days including a 27 hour 160 mile leg between West Bay, New Providence (near Nassau) and Miami.

Weather was generally good.  A couple of legs featured good sailing wind, but on others there was no contrary or light following wind, so motor-sailing was good.

Now for some 'readjustment' as we go from the Bahamas to Miami - probably as big a cultural difference as you will find!

Tom
Moored Coconut Grove Sailing Club
Coconut Grove (Miami), FL

Headed back to the States

May 20, 2014

Today we started our trip back to the States, a day later than originally planned due to some unexpected squally weather.

Today was a 40nm trip from Cambridge Cay to Highbourne Cay, where we are currently anchored. Wind was higher than expected (20-23 knots gusting to 27) and a little more on the nose so the last 10 miles we bashed to windward.

Tomorrow we head about 47nm across the 'White Bank' to West Bay on New Providence where we will probably spend two nights.

Early Friday afternoon we leave West Bay and head up the 'Tongue of the Ocean', through the NW Channel and across the 'Bahamas Bank'. We will exit the Bank near Gun Cay and then cross the Gulf Stream to Miami. The last leg will about 160nm and will take a little over 24 hours.

Then hopefully a little R&R in Coconut Grove after the trip!

Tom
Anchored Highbourne Cay, Exuma
(via Satellite phone)

Cambridge Cay, Exuma

May 16, 2014

Yesterday we moved about 20 miles north from Black Point to Cambridge Cay.

When we are asked what are our favorite places in the Exumas, we often say Black Point for the people and Cambridge Cay for natural beauty. So it is very nice that we are winding up our cruise with stays at these two places!

A few pictures from beautiful Cambridge Cay:

Bell Rock

View from the cliff near Bell Rock - SV Barefoot way in the background

View North from the cliff

View out across the 'fresh' water pond and out onto the Bank
Note the different color waters

Yesterday also marks our 5th month in the Bahamas; we crossed to Bimini on December 15th.

So it is with some sadness that we start to plan our trip back to the States. We are planning to stay here until Monday, when we will work our way north to anchor off Highbourne Cay. Tuesday will be a trip over the 'White Bank' to West Bay on New Providence. We will probably stay in West Bay for a couple of nights as some unsettled weather passes. On Thursday afternoon we will begin a long trip up the 'Tongue of the Ocean', through the Northwest Channel, across the 'Bank, and then finally across the Gulf Stream to Miami. The trip will take a around 24 hours of non-stop travel.

Tom
Moored Cambridge Cay, Exuma
(via satellite phone)

'

Black Point, Exuma

May 11, 2014

We have spent over two weeks in the Black Point Settlement on Great Guana Cay, Exuma.  Black Point is one of our favorite places in the Bahamas.

Black Point  offers a number of services aimed at cruisers including a great laundry, several restaurants, and a small grocery store and is getting to be an increasingly popular stop; on Super Bowl day we were told there were over 120 boats in the harbour.

But its charm continues to stem from the fact that it is a true (and active) family island settlement.  There are no significant populations of ‘winter residents’ or resort-style accommodations here; the people of Black Point live and work in the area.  Early every morning, numerous open boats leave the island full of people commuting to jobs at the various marinas and resorts in the area and they return late each day.  Sometimes it is probably a pleasant trip, other times it is a nasty wet ride. 

Black Point also has the greatest number of children that we have seen in any settlement.  It is a great place to grow up!  The children have a great amount of freedom to roam the settlement and play with their friends. It is not unusual to have to dodge a ‘gang’ of kids riding their bikes down the road, see a vigorous game of hide and seek near the dock, or just talk to some cute kids hanging out on the beach/dock.

Bahamians have a great deal of connection to their ‘home’ island, even if they live elsewhere.  There are many more people who identify as Black Pointers in places like Nassau, where job opportunities are greater, than in the actual settlement and many return for the annual ‘homecoming’ in August.  Extended families are strong and there is a great deal of interactions between the settlement and other places, primarily Nassau.  Food, clothing, and other necessities are scarce on the island, and many residents depend on relatives in Nassau to shop for these things which are then shipped to the island via the ‘mail-boat’.  Arrival of the mail-boat is a big event and everyone gathers at the dock.  I (Tom) love mail-boats and always try to be there when it arrives.  Unloading is a community affair and I try to help where I can.

The settlement has an excellent  all-age (primary) school; the physical facility is rather simple by American standards, but the teachers are dedicated and the students receive a good education in a wholesome environment.  In fact, many Nassau-based families send their younger children to Black Point to go to school while living with extended family.  The situation is often reversed when Black Point students travel to Nassau to attend high school or college while living with relatives there.

We have become quite close with the Peermon (‘Paymon’) Rolle family.  She and her husband Basil have 10 children, one of whom runs the popular Lorraine’s Café in Black Point.  Peermon is a delightful and extraordinary woman.  She bakes what we consider the best coconut bread in the Bahamas, but more importantly has raised a wonderful family and is a deaconess, and main driving force, in Gethsemane Baptist Church here.   We spend quite a bit of time with Peermon and Basil when we are here, and last year we ‘adopted’ her as our daughter – so now we are 'related' to the whole family.

Our church home here in Black Point

This year we participated in the award service for the 2^nd annual Mother’s Day Walk. It was a great time of fun for all including some lively games of musical chairs!  Joyce and Tom participated in the ‘tourist’ division with Joyce winning.  Joyce was eliminated fairly early in the over-60 women’s division that was won by Peermon.  Tom was eliminated early when he competed with the men.

Joyce competing in the over-60 women's division

Joyce being eliminated from the over-60 division - tough competition!
The two young girls in the foreground came up to me and wanted to dance while I was helping setup - I guess there were not many other men around to compete for their attention :-).
VERY CUTE!

Peermon showing some style in the finals of  the over-60 Women's Division

Peermon celebrating a narrow victory!

A competitive finish in the Youth Division

Tom in the Men's Division - eliminated in the second round - tough competition!

The winners of the various divisions in the actual walk

A few other  pictures from our visit to Black Point follow:

Always surprising how rugged the eastern shore is

Interior of Great Guana - very hilly!

 

Lorraine's Cottage which is for rent - very nice.

 

'Little Creek' near Dotham Cut
Evan Cottman, the 'Out-Island Doctor' reportedly rode out a gale here.
When I was discussing the upcoming weather with Edwin, a BP friend, he suggested I could ride the weather out here - I asked him if he was going to pull me out when I ran aground :-)

After a ‘tropical wave’ passes early next week we will leave and spend a  few days in the Exuma Land & Sea Park, before starting the trek back to the states.

Tom

Black Point, Exuma