Welcome to our 2019 travel log! This is our second winter cruising the Caribbean, and our plan for the next few months is to sail to the Bahamas.

I blog in part to document what we’re doing, for our own records and also to share easily with family and friends. So if you’re \240following along in our adventures-welcome!

If you’re joining the log for the first time, the blogs are in chronological order from the \240first to the last post.

However, if you’re checking in on the periodic basis on your iPhone and want to jump directly to latest post, you can click on the location icon located on the top left corner of the page.... \240which will bring up the map. Click on the highest number on the map and you should get to the latest post.

On an iPad, or a computer you can do the same, it’s especially easy since you see the map.

Lady Luck has not been smiling on us. Do you ever get the sense that the universe is trying to tell you something? What do you think the message is if every which way you turn, there’s an obstacle? It’s not clear to me what we’re being held back from, but we’re definitely being “stalled” from proceeding according to our plans and schedule.

From little things like the prop we ordered for the outboard was the wrong size, our inflatable dinghy self-destructed, our cockpit chairs we ordered came in the wrong colour, to more significant things like our starter dying on the main engine... things have not been going well so far.

There was a time in my life when I would have been very frustrated with things not going according to our plans. But if boating has thought me anything, it’s that I’m actually not in control – of most things. For a control enthusiast, as Stephen affectionately likes to call me, it’s a tough lesson to learn, so I guess it’s a good thing that I’m blessed with endless opportunities to practice – letting go!

On the upside, we are floating! The boat got launched yesterday, and while we cannot go anywhere until our new starter is installed, we met a nice couple from a boat named Batula. Guess where they’re from? St. James, Winnipeg, and wait for it… they have a cottage on Lake Batula!😀

Once the new starter got installed and we could start the engine, we waisted no time to get out of Riverside, and we motored over to Harbour Town, a full service marina. Although it’s only about a mile south from where we were staying, it might as well be the other end of the world.... there’s no comparison between the two places. Let’s just say that I’m not a fan of junk yards. 🤪

We spent the next couple of days frantically cleaning, fixing and provisioning the boat so we could leave as soon as possible to randevous with our friends in Fort Lauderdale. As it turns out, they had a family emergency and had to go back home, so we will not be meeting up with them this time. Hopefully we’ll try again next year!

We took to the Inter Coastal Waterway (ICW) on Saturday heading to Fort Lauderdale, as Stephen decided that it will be our jumping off point for the Bahamas 🇧🇸.

The ICW is like a highway for boats, and it’s usually pretty busy, but with this weekend being Presidents Day long weekend, it was insane - it was like an interstate at rush hour. I honestly don’t know how we managed to get this far safely and with only loosing one of our fenders!

The three days from Fort Pierce to Fort Lauderdale went by fast. Each day we tried to get as far south as we could…. although with dozens of bridges in the way you’re at the mercy of their schedule. This year I was more engaged in driving the boat and calling the bridge operators, which made the time go by quickly. Most bridges operate on a schedule, typically every half-hour, but a few are on demand. By the third day we were in the groove and we were working as a team – I was calling the bridge operators to confirm the next opening, and Stephen was calculating how long it would take us to get there and adjust our boat speed accordingly. There’s a delicate balance of getting the timing right – if you’re too slow you miss the opening, if you’re too fast you’re hanging around doing donuts in a busy water way – either option is not great. What really sucks is when you know there’s no hope in hell you’re going to make the next bridge opening, so you have to slowdown to a snails pace, even though you’re in a hurry.

As far as we can tell, there’s no boating etiquette on the ICW. Huge power yachts speed by you at full throttle with complete disregard to anyone… especially a small sail boat like us. So you quickly learn to hang on with dear life when one passes because you’ll get tossed around in their wake.

At night we decided to find a sheltered spot just off the main channel, and simply drop anchor. Not ideal, at least not until sunsets and \240the boat traffic dies down, but we were lucky that the wind stayed up both nights, and we were pretty comfortable.

Yesterday was a scorching hot day, so we were glad to be in a marina with power so we could run our air conditioner. I remember when we first bought the boat we thought there’s no way that we would ever want to run the air conditioning in a boat – \240we’ve never been more wrong! As I write this, Stephen is madly working on fixing it, as it stopped running this morning. He was quickly able to determine that the pump lost its prime and had it operational within minutes. I once again thanked God that this man is capable of fixing just about anything!

Today we’re continuing with getting the boat ready for the passage to the Bahamas. After a week you’d think that things are in ship shape…. but we’re still far from it. \240After fixing the air conditioning, Stephen has been busy installing an additional house battery, and a new thermostat (a traditional Honeywell “round” which Stephen is SOO proud of you’d think he invented it 😀) and running new wiring for the freezer. In the meantime, I did a load of laundry, scrubbed the deck and reorganized our food stores.

Who said that the cruising life was glamorous?

And the preparations continue…. The endless list of things to do before we leave is finally dwindling. Although tiresome, it’s also have been very satisfying. It never ceases to amaze me how we manage to stow everything we need in such a small space.

We have cleaned, sorted, and tossed out everything superfluous the last couple of days. Every nook and cranny has been scrubbed and organized…. baskets are my new best friends. Marie Kondo would be very proud!

Living on a boat is minimalism at its best. Although I have to admit that I do struggle with the concept when it comes to food. I have an irrational fear that we may never find another grocery store for the remainder of the trip! Btw -Stephen feels the same about beer! 😄

Stephen, handyman extraordinaire, continues with fixing everything – and there’s no shortage of things in need of repair. To my delight he finally got to the bottom – literally – to our water pressure problem. We either didn’t have any, or when we did, it’s been very sporadic. He reinstalled the stove so it’s now level and stable, handy features of a cooking appliance. He is tackling the head today…. needs to replace the joker valve – which our boating friends will know that is so NOT funny!

We also rented a car a couple of days ago to do a bunch of running around. We needed to go to West Marine for boat parts, and to find a new inflatable dingy to replace our old one that disintegrated. I NEEDED to go to Target to buy a new comforter. The one we had was driving me bonkers because it’s been loosing all its feathers and I couldn’t take it anymore!!!!! 😜 \240But most importantly we needed to stock up on booze before we left for the islands.

We’ve heard that Costco was a good place to go for cheap liquor so we decided to check it out despite having had to drive practically half-way to Miami. What a freaking zoo! Two hours later we had to drive to the nearest Walmart because Costco doesn’t even sell boxed wine. Ignorance isn’t always bliss.

We’re getting to the point in our preparations that we’re starting to look ahead at wind forecasts to try to find a favourable weather window for the hop across to the Bahamas. It’s only 68 nautical miles (Nm) from here to West End - our first port of call - \240but we need to pick our weather window carefully because of the current in the Gulf Stream runs north at approximately 3 to 4 knots, which we don’t want to fight against - so we’re hoping for about 10 Knots of wind from the South. At this point it looks like we may have a small window of opportunity on Sunday. We will see.

Gues which side of the boat is whose?

We arrived at West End, Grand Bahama Island yesterday at four in the afternoon in record time - exactly 10 hours after we left Fort Lauderdale. Unfortunately West End is closed! Let me explain.

We left Las Olas marina at 5:30 in the morning in a shroud of darkness without any incident… meaning we didn’t hit any boats on our way out. Which we nearly did a year ago, so things were off to a good start.

We entered the main channel about 15 minutes later only to be accosted by a police boat asking us to keep tight to the red marker and make way for the cruise ship slowly entering the harbour. Holly smokes what an imposing site – especially in the dark! We have sailed by cruise ships before but always in a distance, never have we ever been so close that we could peek into people’s cabins. Talk about feeling small…. As we cleared the first ship, a Holland America cruise liner, we noticed there was another one right behind it, something sleek and elegant called the Edge, and then we realized that they were lined up five boats deep all waiting to come in to the harbour.

As we slowly motored by all the huge cruise ships and were finally out in the open sea the seas were quite choppy with confused waves – waves that come from all different directions - tossing the boat around, despite it not being very windy. Out of nowhere a rogue wave hit us hard…. we don’t think we were completely knocked down because our mast didn’t quite hit the water, but it was pretty close. We could hear things crashing in the cabin and when we finally had a moment to peek inside we saw to our horror that all the tightly stowed boxes of wine and bottles of rum popped out like chiclets from their packages and were on the cabin floor. Mercifully the rum bottles didn’t break, or I would of had a crying 😢 captain to contend with on top of everything else.

By this time the sun was rising and Stephen decided to unfurl the head sail to balance out the boat a bit, and as we got further out to sea the waves became smaller and our ride got a little smoother. The wind stayed consistent out of the South-East at 10-15 Kts for most of the day, and with getting a good lift (about 2 Kts) from the Gulf Stream we sustained our speed at 7.5 Kts – the maximum speed for our boat. Although it was still a pretty lumpy ride….but if you can snooze 😴 on and off along the way it wasn’t so bad.

Just before three o’clock in the afternoon Stephen sighted land! Excited to check in with Bahamas’ customs we started hailing them on the radio, but had no response. Thinking that perhaps the office was closed due to being a Sunday we sailed on. We entered the West End channel around four in the afternoon and noticed that the marina was strangely empty. Not a single boat considering that we’ve read that it’s a popular waypoint for cruisers crossing from Florida to the Bahamas. There were a few boats tied up across from the marina at a long concrete pier so we headed towards it only to be yelled at by a couple of guys that we couldn’t tie up there. Confused about the completely empty marina behind us, and no room on the pier we were at a loss of what to do. When we looked closer at the slips in the marina we realized that they were all corded off and the row of \240multicoloured buildings on the shore looked abandoned. Something strange was going on!

Not having much of a choice we tied up on the end of the corded off docks while we figured out what to do. A security guard quickly came by to tell us we could only stay long enough to clear in at customs…. which was open after all. While Stephen was checking in, I chatted up the security guard dying to find out what the heck was going on. As it turns out there’s been a long standing legal dispute between the owners \240of the property and the owners of the Bahama Bay Marina and resort. The owners of the property sold to a developer and while the transition happens, the owners of the property decided to shut down operations a couple of days ago forcing everyone out of work - causing lots of unhappy people around here!!! As for us with no place to tie up, we ended up staying the night at anchor in the middle of the bay.

Today, with a “cold” front approaching from the North, (only a few degrees cooler, but with high winds up to 25-30 Kts) our goal was tie up to a dock. We managed to get a spot on the government dock so we will be safe while we wait for the high winds to pass.

Tomorrow we’ll figure out where to go from here, but for now it’s time for a cervesa 🍺. \240Cheers!!!

Us, and the two other sail boats remaining on the dock – Steve and Mary Ellen on Seven Sundays from Syracuse NY, and a nice Canadian couple from St. John, New Brunswick on Rhythm and Blues - left West End harbour early Wednesday morning. It wasn’t a conscious decision but we were all heading to the same anchorage called North West Harbour at Great Sale Cay – an uninhabited island approximately an 8 hour sail away.

Based on the weather forecast we probably all imagined a lovely day ⛵️ on the water. I know Stephen and I did. Our plans were to spend the evening at anchor, and the next day enjoy exploring the island and beach, before we sailed on.

Here’s what really happened …. Instead of the ~10 Kts of wind 💨 \240from NE which was promised, we had 15 Kts from the East, right on the nose - the exact direction we were going – so we pretty much had to motor all the way there.

When we got there we found a beautiful crescent bay that was well protected from every direction but South, which wasn’t going to be a problem because the forecast called for no wind from any direction. I kid you not, the moment we dropped the anchor the wind picked up and shifted to guess which direction - the South.

The rest of the evening we had thunderstorms ⛈ circling around us, but thankfully we didn’t get hit, and all we got is a little bit of rain. In the morning we woke up to strong 20+ Kts winds from the North… so we pulled anchor and bugged out. I guess we’ll have to explore the island at another time. 😞

Our destination after leaving Great Sale Cay in such hurry yesterday was one of the smaller cays at the outer limits of the Abacos chain of islands - perched on the northernmost rim of the Bahamas.

It’s logical that we start our Bahamas cruise at the most remote part of the islands since we’re cleared in at West End, which is pretty far North, but it makes even more sense if you know Stephen. It’s not that he doesn’t like people.... it’s just that he really doesn’t like being around people. 😜

So it was not surprising to me that our starting point was one of the most remote islands of the Abacos, called Little Grand Cay. Reading about it in our cruising guide \240we imagined that we’d find a charming little fishing village with a restaurant, grocery store and fuel - at a place called Rosie’s Place. Well calling it charming was a bit of a stretch! More accurately it was a run down, shabby little settlement on the edge of a small bay - with the most dirty, scattered with junk fuel dock I have ever seen.

After several attempts we managed to tie up, only to find out that there was no diesel fuel available until the next day.... so we motored back to the bay and dropped anchor. We spent the rest of the afternoon puttering on the boat..... Stephen fixed the autopilot which lost its mind, installed a new marine radio, and attached the anchor on the mast for my TRX straps (more on that later).... and we watched the people of the village go about their daily life.

Expect the unexpected.... is usually good advice in life, but it’s especially apt for cruising.

Yesterday morning before we headed out of the harbour, we decided to try getting fuel again - which meant going back to the dreaded fuel dock.

As we were getting close, I was already feeling apprehensive about jumping on to the dock with all the junk scattered around and no cleats to tie up to. Stephen did his best to manoeuvre the boat as close to the dock as he could, considering the current was pushing us off. Not having much of a choice.... \240hanging on to both dock lines I leapt on to the aluminum dock just as Stephen yelled “hold on - I can get you closer”! Well, whether it was the motion of the boat, or my unsteady grip on the edge of the dock, I lost my balance and unceremoniously plopped in the water between the boat and the dock.

There was no latter, so after handing Stephen the lines which were still tightly clutched in my hands, I patiently hung on to a \240slimy rope that was hanging off the sea wall while Stephen tied up the boat, and lowered our swim latter.

Asides from a couple of minor bruises on my arm, it was only my pride that was hurt - and although not expected, I had my first swim in the Bahamas - all before nine in the morning.

After a quick rinse with a bucket of fresh water, a change of clothes and paying the criminal amount of $10CAN for a gallon of fuel... we happily left Little Grand Cay behind.

Our destination was Yankee Harbour approximately 15 Nm to the South East from our location. As we motored towards it, \240because there wasn’t a stitch of wind, about half-way there we were surprised by a beautiful shallow bay of water with what looked like ribbons of sandbars flowing through it. Once again unexpected, but we decided we couldn’t sail by without stopping. So we dropped anchor and spent a lovely couple of hours having lunch and a swim.

By the time we were ready to move on the wind picked up and there was a lovely stiff breeze from the Southeast - again unexpected. On the spur of the moment we decided to change our destination and head back to Great Sale Cay so we could take advantage of the wind.

For the first time since we left home we had an overwhelming realization how blessed we were to have the freedom to truly go where the 💨 will take us!🙏❤️⛵️

Enjoying a surprise serenade 🎶 at sunset 🌅 tonight!

We arrived at Green Turtle Cay Sunday evening, after six hours of motor sailing from Fox Town. The sailing Gods continue to mock us by blowing from the exact direction we want to go.... it feels just like sailing on Lake Winnipeg! 😬

For the last few days we’ve been staying at Bluff House Marina, a lovely full service facility with showers, laundry, pool and a restaurant. After five days at anchor, it was such luxury to be able to have a hot shower again - and wash the ‘fuel-dock’ sea water out of my hair - and able to shave my legs finally! \240You might have to be a girl to fully appreciate that. 😆

The best part was going back to the boat after my shower, to find that Stephen washed all the dishes and cleaned up the galley. It’s amazing how such a simple act of kindness can make someone so happy!!!!

Green Turtle Cay is the first island that we’ve been to that resembles the Bahamas of the “travel brochures”. \240Lush green land with beautiful deep aqua green bays, and white sandy beaches.... not hard to take.

The tiny 3-mile by half-mile island is steeped in Loyalist history. New Plymouth is Green Turtle’s main community... first settled in 1783 is dotted with ancestoral New England-style cottage homes, gift shops and restaurants. There’s no public transportation of any kind. You can rent bicycles and golf carts, so we decided to rent a golf cart yesterday for a day and explored the town - which can easily be accomplished in a couple of hours.

Another cold front is expected to come through from the North tomorrow and bring with it high winds. Our plan was to move to a mooring ball, slightly cheaper than a slip, \240while we wait for the front to pass... but alas it wasn’t meant to be - the engine didn’t start! Stephen thinks it might be the starter again, but I guess we’ll have to wait and find out. Of course there isn’t a mechanic on this island, so we’re waiting to hear back from a mechanic in Marsh Harbour.

All I have to say is that if you have to be stranded - it might as well be in paradise! 😜

The winds have continued to blow hard since last Wednesday, as a result, we haven’t ventured very far from Green Turtle Cay.

After Stephen spoke with the mechanic, it didn’t take him very long to isolate the problem - a corroded ground electrical wire \240from the block to the battery - and had it resolved all within the hour. I’m both proud and appreciative of Stephen’s abilities to fix just about anything, but at times I can’t help feeling envious of him. How satisfying it must feel to be so competent!

We left Bluff House Marina Thursday afternoon and motored about 15 minutes just to the other side of the point and dropped anchor by the beach. We finally inflated our kayak, and got the outboard on the dingy.... and we headed to the beach for happy hour. 🍺🍸

While there, we met a lovely couple named Frank and Cindy, owners of a large garden centre just outside of Indianapolis, on vacation before their busy season starts. It’s interesting how fast you can click with some people, while with others you can spend a life time trying and not even get remotely close. We exchanged contacts, and we have plans to meet them same time next year on the same beach! It’s nice to make new friends... because we sure miss our friends at home!!!!

Today we went to visit the pigs 🐖 at No Name Cay!

Just when we thought it couldn’t get much better…. We arrived at Treasure Cay!

We got back to the boat after dinner just as the half-moon was directly shining above our head illuminating our way..... through a constellation of mast lights from the 100 or so boats anchored in the harbour tonight.

We arrived in Marsh Harbour mid-afternoon, after spending three wonderful days at Treasure Cay.

While there, we split our time pretty much evenly between the beach, the pool, and the boat. Two out of the three days it was overcast and there was no wind - not even a stitch - which was not very conducive for the solar panels, or the wind generator to keep the batteries topped up. As a result, Stephen had spent a lot of his time with a meter in his hand babysitting the batteries. We even had to resort to running the generator, which we typically don’t like doing because it’s so loud, but it does provide for such luxuries as the ability to run the vacuum or the toaster while at anchor -which we did both! Living life to the fullest! 😜

The third day it was so windy that we were concerned about the 65 ft. mega catamaran in front of us breaking loose in the middle of the night from its mooring ball and killing us in our sleep! Just kidding.... it was only me who thought that! 😂

Today we are planning to explore Marsh Harbour - the third largest city in the Bahamas, and the commercial hub of the Abacos. Although we’re still doing pretty well with our food provisions, not quite as well with our liquor.... so guess where we’re going?

We arrived in Hope Town after a hasty retreat \240from Marsh Harbour on Saturday afternoon.

We rented bikes 🚲 to help us get around the island more efficiently, and once we completed the essentials – hardware store, boat yard, grocery store and liquor store in that order – from Stephen’s perspective there was no reason to stay any longer in a hot and crowded harbour. As for me, I was just happy that I got out alive, after nearly being run over by a van on the bike. It was all my fault, in a moment of panic I completely forgot that they drive on the left hand side and I turned in to upcoming traffic - thank God for the stop sign!! 🙄

We pulled anchor and headed straight across the channel to Elbow Cay.

We’re back on Grand Abaco, at Marsh Harbour, but on the South side safely tucked in to a marina. We have our first rain day with strong North winds. We will wait it out here....

Well we have never done that before…. Surf in to a brand new harbour on four foot waves! Talk about an adrenaline rush…. all before breakfast.

We left the Abaco Marina at Marsh Harbour on Wednesday morning after waiting out really bad weather on Tuesday. \240If it was hurricane season, it might have been a named storm. We’ve had occasional rain showers before, but we haven’t experienced non-stop heavy horizontal rain, and 30 knot \240winds for full 24 hours since we been down South. You sure find out in a hurry where your boat leeks!

Our destination was Little Harbour, only about 20 Nm South from Marsh Harbour. But because the entrance to the harbour is both narrow and shallow you could only get in-and-out at high tide. As a result, we had anchored out overnight across the bay so we could take advantage of the high tide the following morning at 9:00.

Our first clue should have been the high rolling seas as we cut across the bay which was exposed to the North Atlantic ocean from the NE, and was still frothing from the storm the day before. As we approached the entrance we got swept up by large rolling waves which pushed us through the mouth of the channel and we rode the surf all the way in…. with little control of the boat! We had visions of bottoming out in between troughs, but before we knew it we were through and found ourselves in a beautiful sheltered little harbour \240- as its name suggests.

Little Harbour is a small artsy community. A foundry was established here in the 50s, and to this day it still produces bronze castings. There is art all over the village including a gallery that sells locally made art for thousands of dollars! In addition to the art, the harbour also has one of the best beach bars in the Bahamas called Pete’s Pub – a place right on the beach where you can wiggle your toes in the sand while sipping 🍹 margaritas!

Another storm is heading this way on Monday so we’re leaving tomorrow in pursuit of shelter from the high winds…. Not exactly sure where.

We’re back at Treasure Cay after a couple of busy days of running around trying to get our fridge working again.

Last Friday, while we were still at Little Harbour our refrigerator died. It’s a bit of a necessity around here so we were highly motivated to get it fixed ASAP - you got to keep that beer 🍺 cold!!

Stephen has been tinkering with it for years trying to keep it alive - it’s both old and inefficient - but very expensive to replace. Most recently he added some refrigerant to see if it would help with keeping it cooler. Well it did.... until Stephen realized that he forgot the refrigerant gauge on the service port valve overnight, \240and all the refrigerant had leaked out! 😱

So we left the following morning in search of refrigerant.... Our destination was Man-of-War Cay where we’ve heard had an all weather protective harbour to shelter us from the approaching high winds - and it also had a hardware store.

We got there around one o’clock in the afternoon only to find out that everything pretty much closed at noon on Saturdays. Not having much of a choice we got back on the boat and sailed back to Marsh Harbour - the largest town in the Abacos - a couple of hours away. It took some running around because a lot of the stores had also closed early on Saturdays, but out of desperation we walked in to an automotive shop that was still open.... and there it was! Never been so happy to find a shelf full of R-134a refrigerant. Happy to report that the fridge is working better than ever! 🥶

The next day we rented a car and we drove South to see what the Bahamas looked like from the land. Strangely we found ourselves driving through a spruce tree forest not that dissimilar to what we would find around Vaser Manitoba - my mother-in-law’s home town. We ended up in a quaint small town called Cherokee Sound known for its salt flats and bone fishing 🎣. If you want to get away from it all this is the place!

Today, Stephen had spent the afternoon re-plumbing the head because it’s been leaking and stinking up the joint.... a really glamorous job!

As for me, I’ve decided to give my maintenance man the rest of the day off.... and we headed to the pool for happy hour!! 😜

We’re back at Treasure Cay waiting for yet another wind storm to pass. Yesterday it was so windy that our wind generator was cutting out... and it only cuts out at 40 Kts (80 km an hour).

Hopefully tomorrow the winds will be favourable so we can move on.

Have a good weekend everyone!!!

We were hell-bent on sailing somewhere on Saturday after waiting days for the strong winds to subside - once again. We decided to ⛵️across the bay to Great Guana Cay - the Great Bird Shit Island - it was much better than it sounds! 😊

Spanish Cay is a beautiful private island catering to boaters with a large eighty-one slip marina.... although when we arrived this afternoon we were pretty much the only boat in here.

After leaving Great Guana Cay Monday morning we headed back to Green Turtle Cay.... but this time we dropped an anchor in the sound, instead of being tied to a dock in the marina. The price was right - it’s free. The next day we rented bikes and rode in to town, about a 45 minute lovely ride through the island and picked up a few provisions, and had lunch at one of the restaurants. Stephen gave himself a buzz cut, (totally 💕 his Conair) and I got to wash my hair when I snuck in to the showers at the resort..... exciting times! We’re starting to feel like locals! 😆

Spanish Cay is located back north on the chain of Abaco Islands. We passed it on our way down south about a month ago when we first arrived, and we decided to come back and check it out partly because we wanted to sail somewhere new, and also because we’ve heard that there’s good snorkeling around here.... and we really really would like to go snorkeling - but not in the harbour! It’s infested with nurse sharks. 🦈🦈🦈

Time is flying by…. It’s been two months since we moved on the boat, and over six weeks since we’ve been in the Bahamas. The initial hustle of getting the boat ready gave way to a more leisurely pace of life. Although I can’t say that we’re in a routine because each day is distinct based on where we are, the cadence of our day is somewhat predictable…. savouring our morning coffee, checking the weather, catching up on the day’s news, and ultimately making a decision about what we’re doing – staying put or moving on. By this time it’s usually noon. 😊

We left Spanish Harbour and it’s shark infested waters last Friday afternoon and headed to Crab Cay – the most northern anchorage on Great Abaco Island. There’s nothing there but a large protected bay…. and only a few other boats - a nice change from some of the busy harbours. It felt a little like being at BI5 on Lake Winnipeg – but much bigger. We spent the weekend swimming and kayaking before we headed back to Green Turtle Cay on Monday. We celebrated my birthday 🎂 with having the most delicious coconut shrimp I’ve ever had!

We have now ‘cay-hopped’ across the Abacos and we are on our way back down south to meet Melissa in Marsh Harbour. There’s a certain amount of comfort that comes with sailing in known waters and not having to be glued to a chart plotter. Also, having been in-and-out of all the marinas and anchorages, you begin to know the nuances of getting around – are there mooring balls, how’s the holding for anchoring, are there poles or docks in the marina, where’s the laundry and the showers, is there wifi and a grocery store, where are the good restaurants, and finally – where can we buy beer 🍺!? All the important questions of a cruising life!

The weather continues to be unsettled. The usually E-NE-SE predictable trade winds have been anything but predictable – we’re getting wind from all different directions and going from no wind to a lot of wind in a matter of minutes. Besides the erratic winds, this week we also had lots of rain 🌧.

Yesterday we had one of those days…. First, we were attacked in our sleep by a swarm of no-see-ums. Following a squall that went by in the middle of the night the wind died down just as the sun was coming up. The nasty little buggers came through our hatch screen and had a feast before we even realized what was going on! And then, on our way to Treasure Cay we got caught in another squall - which is nothing unusual. What was almost comical is that we sailed for about two hours in the pouring rain ☔️ with clear skies ☀️ just ahead of us. The system kept pace and direction with us and followed us all the way in to the harbour. 😝 It wasn’t funny at the time.

We plan to spend the weekend at Treasure Cay and head to Marsh Harbour on Monday… which should give us enough time to re-provision and get ready for Melissa’s arrival on Wednesday, April 17th. Can’t wait to see her!!! 😍

Melissa arrived a week ago… and since then we’ve experienced one unfortunate event after another - a simple coincidence I’m sure! 😜

We have decided to stay at Mangoes Marina in Marsh Harbour during Easter weekend to allow for an easier access on-and-off the boat (we thought Melissa might appreciate not having to get in the dingy with her suit case), and to give us the opportunity to re-charge our batteries which have continued to be sluggish.

The first thing that went was the transfer switch that allows us to shift between shore and ship (generator) power… which meant that we couldn’t plug 🔌 in and charge the batteries, or run the air conditioning. By nothing short of a miracle, Stephen managed to find a boat electrician who was able to come by the next day (Thursday before the Easter long weekend) to look at the problem. The transfer switch was fried, \240but he managed to by pass it so that at least we could plug in – which came in handy as the weather turned rainy the next day.

On Saturday Stephen decided to install an external gas tank on our outboard motor since the internal tank has been leaking gas. Long story short, the motor that has run beautifully for the last two months no longer works…. We’re back in Marsh Harbour trying to get it fixed. 😬

But the biggest excitement came on Sunday afternoon when we ran aground and we needed assistance to get unstuck. After attending Easter mass at St. Francis De Sale Catholic Church (where we got to meet the prime minister of the Bahamas) we decided to leave Marsh Harbour and sail to Elbow Cay. We had a lovely sail across the bay, but because the wind was shifting more to the North, we needed to find a sheltered spot to anchor over night, which meant sailing ⛵️ past our original anchorage. According to our chart there was a passage we could get through at low tide…. which turned out to be SO not true!

Running aground feels a little like falling down, you come to an abrupt halt and you wonder what happened. Not usually a big deal on soft sand, and it’s not the first time it has happened to us. Since it was low tide, \240we thought that the worst we would have to do is wait for the flood tide to come back in and float us off 😆.

In the meantime Stephen decided to go and put a stern anchor out to ensure we didn’t accidentally float away when the water came up… but since our motor on the dingy didn’t work, him and Melissa had to row the anchor out. While they were doing that I noticed that the anchor rode went under the boat, but what we didn’t realize then was that the rode got wrapped around the prop because we accidentally left the engine in reverse… so for the first time since we started boating we had to radio a \240“pan-pan” and request help to get off the embankment.

It’s a little disheartening when you don’t get a response to a call for help, especially with all the boat traffic around. Although it took a little while eventually we did get help from a couple of boaters – who bless their determined hearts stayed for three hours to help us get free!

Since then, we have discovered that the Navionix charts we’re using have been the cause of several groundings amongst other boaters as well. \240I think it’s time to find a different chart!

And…. as far as Melissa goes, if our luck doesn’t improve soon, we might just have to throw her overboard! 😂 🦈

Three strikes and you’re out! I guess that means that we are continuing our loosing streak...

Since we had to drop off our outboard to get fixed back in Marsh Harbour, we’ve decided to rent a car and drive to the most south end of the Great Abacos - a place called Sandy Point.

Our plan was to drive to Abaco National Park to find the infamous Bahama parrot 🦜, to go see the Hole in the Wall light house at the most south point of the island, and finally, to find the famous Sawmill Blue Hole featured in the National Geographic a few years back.

Nobody will be able to fault us for not trying hard enough.... but, we didn’t see a single parrot, we couldn’t drive our beat up little rent a car 🚗 all the way to the light house out of fear that it will break down - and because if it did, no one would ever find us - and finally, we could not locate the blue hole if our life depended on it. 🤣 Three strikes and you are out! The plan is to try again when we’re back in Marsh Harbour to pull the boat.

Our last few days in the Bahamas before we haul the boat next Monday, May 13 - \240in Marsh Harbour. (Personally I’m ready to go... Stephen on the other hand is another matter.) 😆

The weather has turned more hot and humid which means we’re getting more rain showers and storms passing through. \240The issue with rain is that we’re unable to leave our hatches open at night, and without any air circulation it’s simply too hot and muggy to sleep. So we’re back at Treasure Cay in the marina so we can run our air conditioning.

The highlight the past few days was sailing to Manjack Cay and swimming with the stingrays, sharks and turtles 🐢. The beach had the beautiful pink sand and the stingrays, who are accustomed to being fed by the tourists, had no fear of swimming right up to you in the shallows. Thank God the sharks were a little more reserved! Melissa was a little freaked out at first, considering she’s even a little squeamish swimming in the lake back home. 😂

Yesterday we were thrilled to meet up with fellow sailors from Winnipeg - Brigitte and Bill on their beautiful new boat Summer Time!!!

We celebrated the official changing of the flag from Swiss🇨🇭to Canadian 🇨🇦 to reflect the change in ownership. 🥂

It’s a wrap! We concluded our Bahamas cruise ⛵️today, and we’re on our way to our niece’s wedding in Mexico 🇲🇽!