Georgetown

We sailed into Georgetown about a week ago.  We didn't mean to spend a whole week here but it has been a fun week.  Georgetown is similar to Nassau in the sense that it is a great place to provision and possibly get boat parts and other important things. . . and that is where the similiarities stop.  The town is cute and filled with friendly, helpful people.  I would stereotype it as a Canadian retirement community.  There are some very interesting old people here, some  very annoying old people here, and a handful of young sailors.  Half the time we meet someone I'm thinking "this person is  very interesting and I wouldn't mind spending time with him/her and learning a thing or two".  The other half of the time I'm thinking "this person is a douche and thinks he/she is the  boss of me".  But there is free R/O water and a lovely dingy dock where everyone safely leaves thier dingy.  There is a quirky morning radio show on the VHF that is run by the cruisers that come back to Georgetown every year.  It's a little silly but informative with the "going ons" in the community and places where we can put our trash, get water, gas, etc. 

We had Christmas Eve on the Stray Cat which was an impromtu and Franzia filled evening.  And if we had any doubts they have been put to rest: Franzia poisoning is real.  We ran into the Texas Two Step crew again,... Dave, Leslie and thier daughter Michelle and they came over and celebrated with us.  The are always a hoot to hang with.   The boys aboard YOLO, Andy and Lance, also came and provided good fun.  They came in all bearded up, full of smiles and instantly bonded with the group.  Both these boats have blogs so google them and check them out.

We had Christmas on the Gualby and it was wonderful.  I only cried a few times in the morning and then when I talked to our families--they were confused tears--happy and sad.  It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm.  We enjoyed an amazing meal of perogies (Shannon family receipe), smoked pork shoulder, green bean casserole (or "hot dish" as the Minnesotans that brought it call it), cheesy potatoes, chocolate peanut clusters, rum cake, and washed it down with Sangria.  We laughed alot, hung out on the nets after dinner, and enjoyed our day to the fullest. 

The day after Christmas was one of my favorite days yet.  We were anchored off of Hamburger Beach and decided to explore the island.  We paddled in with Pen Dog and took the not well traveled at all path over the island to the other side where we were met by a magnificient beach with huge sand dunes and sparkling blue water with a . . . surf break.  We walked the deserted beach, amazed at the gem we had discovered and wondered if all the tons of boats that are anchored close to the volleyball courts and organized events ever hiked to this side of the island.  It was another beautiful day and we were warm from the hike over so we went for a swim in the big waves.  I felt like a little kid, giggling and hollering when I would float over the big swell and lose sight of Con.  The waves were super fun but I definitely went got worked a few times.  Thank goodness for the sandy bottom.  On the hike back over to the anchorage to get the surfboard we ran into Shannon and Ted and they joined us for the surf session.  Ted and Con grabbed their boards and then we took the more traveled path back (way less rocks and trees in the way)  We spent several more hours at the beach playing in the water and surfing and we only saw two other people walking the beach.  Beautiful.

We then had the pleasure of being a part of Junkanoo.  Junkanoo is parade of awesome, elaborate costumes, dancers, and good, drum led music.  We drank Bahamian beers, danced to the beat of drums and horns, and had ourselves a damn good time.  Thanks goodness for that free R/O water the next morning. 

After Christmas Lounging

The overgrown trail to the beach

The A-frame we couldn't quite make it to

Gualby anchored on the other side of the island

The better path... less stickers but steeper climb

Junkanoo Parade, Georgetown

Cutest Drummer boy ever-he would get tired and shake his drum hand out like it hurt

 

Nassau to Hatchet Bay to Little San Salvador to Staniel Cay

        We sailed from Nassau to Hatchet Bay on 12/12. Well, we sailed/motored due to not much wind. It was a sunny, beautiful, easy passage. We caught a Spanish Mackerel and enjoyed some fresh ceviche for lunch. Con also got his first haircut from me, he looks pretty good. The haircut was performed with the haircutee having dirty hair, him still steering Gualby, and with no comb; so all in all I think he looks damn good.
      When we arrived in Eleuthera we motored thru this very small opening in between two walls of rock to enter Hatchet Bay Pond. Allegedly this opening is 90 feet but it looked way freakin smaller. I asked Con a few times if he had the correct opening to the bay. He assured me he did. We made it thru unscathed and motored around the bay a bit before grabbing a free, covered in bird shit, mooring ball. Since the passage was so lovely and calm we started cocktail hour a wee bit earlier and it only took me three tries before I grabbed the bird shit covered loop on top of the ball and tied us up. I only lost the white handle to the boat hook; not the entire boat hook. Success!
      Our plan was to get up the next day, do some exploring and hopefully find a spot to maybe catch a few waves. Mother Nature had different plans. A knarly cold front came in with 30+ knots of wind, major waves/white caps even in a very well protected bay (thank goodness). We woke up to our canoe completely submerged and howling winds that made it an intense situation just being moored. So much for me improving my very minimal surfing skills. Not a good day to start! We wanted to give Eleuthera more time but we felt the need to keep moving. I feel torn between wanting to stay and explore the place where we are a little bit more and knowing that there are a million new and beautiful places waiting for me to explore. If I was in charge of planning our route and time managing how we will see it all, this adventure would be a 25 year voyage instead of 5 years. I know, you guys reading this are like, “Wow what a problem to have--you don’t think you are exploring everything as much as you would like because there are more countries that you want to see while you are traveling on your bad ass boat and not working.”
To be clear: Not complaining, just sharing
      So we pulled anchor at 4am, left Hatchet Bay behind us, and set course for Little San Salvador. Winds south/south east, seas less than two feet.  The start of a lovely day. It was a bit scary at the beginning, though, because it was so dark. I know this sounds obvious, but you can’t see the wind, the seas, or much of anything else at four in the morning with no moon. That feeling I guess is something I will just get use to with more experience.  I was pretty excited to see the sun rise that morning; for light and warmth. The cold front also brought in. . . cold air.

 During this passage we discovered a few things that I would like to share:

Gualby’s new sailing anthem: “Fuck You” by CeeLo Green
Favorite new breakfast: Steel cut oats with butter and honey
New shower technique: N/A its too cold
New lesson learned: Try really hard to not accidentally tack in a “Red Zone” (Red Zone=area where there is a high potential to run aground, ie on rocks, sandbars, and land in general)

      On our way to Little San Salvador we sailed all but the last 5 miles when the winds and waves got all confused and our sails were luffing and waves were hitting the bridge deck. Side note: We have also found that we get really excited when we are about 5-7 miles out and if the wind isn’t right where we want it we get ancy and want to motor.
      Little San Salvador is freaking beautiful. The water looks like pool water, the sand is so soft under our feet and there are, (to quote Shannon of the Salty Dog) a “butt load of coral heads everywhere!” Which brings me to my next self discovery:
      I have become a huntress. I have the blood thirst to spear and catch my own dinner. I speared my first grouper in little San Salvador and it was magnificent. Ok, well, maybe not magnificent because if you’ll notice I wrote I “speared” (not killed) my first grouper. I found him under a sponge house looking thing and was so excited. I went down, speared him, and thought, “wow that was easier than I thought. This is fantastic!” I then went to take my spear out of the hole to proudly show my husband how awesome I am at spear fishing and the grouper was not on my spear anymore. Luckily, Con anticipated my beginner skills and was already down re-spearing my grouper (this time all the way thru) and he brought it up to the surface. We decided that it was a “Gorham Kill.” Go team.
      We are currently anchored in between Staniel Cay and Big Majors Island in the Exumas. We are going to go explore The Thunderball Grotto today. The Thunderball Grotto is from one of the James Bond movies so of course I am going to wear my cutest, most bond-girl looking bikini. Its kinda chilly but I can't swim through thunderball cave in a lame-o wet suit. There are also “wild” pigs on Big Majors Island that are not so wild. They are kept fat and tame from all the tourists feeding them. I’m not sure how I feel about giving our food provisions to pigs. If we have any food that is “pig worthy” its already been given to Penny.
      Also, we know blogs are boring without pics. We have taken a bunch of cool photos but the internet is sooo slow trying to load them. I’ll keep on it.
M.

Ceviche!

This is the opening?!?

Going through the small opening, no sweat

It was a cold morning

The new faces of Freestyle Sailing

Pen Dog helping Meg stay on course

Just drying some peppers



No Meg isn't posing as a Bond Girl, she just swims prepared



Inside Thunderball Grotto



Curious Little Guy



Gorham Family Christmas Photo?

Thoughts on Nassau

          We arrived in Nassau on Dec 4^th, and despite my previous feelings we are definitely glad to be here. Nassau gets a bad rap because of the crime, cruise ships, and general dirtiness that a big city inherently has (even if it is only big by Bahamas standards). And I’m definitely guilty of talking shit about it, mostly because I despise the environment that cruise ship visitors create. Maybe because I’ve been in Key West and seen how things are when a ship comes in. But such is the world we live in, and those people (cruise ship weiners) are keeping the economy here up, and making it possible for us to get things we desperately desire. Such as: FOOD, BOOZE and BOAT PARTS. When we sailed into Nassau Harbor and Meg was at the helm as I was preparing the anchor, I couldn’t help but “throw my hands in the air” and start a little jig on the foredeck, as commanded by the DJ on the floating disco that was passing us by. You can feel the human energy in the air as soon as you pass the harbor buoys.

Penny claims that if we loan her 20$ and drop her off at Atlantis, she'll return with the 20$ and enough extra for a bag of dogfood

           Dozens of these double decker floating disco’s are cruising through the harbor at any one time, and we gaze at each other as we pass port to port: Meg and I in our jackets cuz it’s 70 degrees, the cruise ship day trippers in their bikinis and board shorts, feeling warm from the beer and the dancing I guess. Once we are anchored we are told by another boat that we should be setting up a Bahamian mooring, because this is a “Bahamian mooring anchorage”. I ignore this load of shit and let the Manson do its thing. Besides, we were here first. So we go ahead and launch the war canoe and head into shore, immediately admonished for landing on private property. Which we promise not to do again. As soon as we climb the hill up to society we find we are standing on the edge of a 2 lane highway with bumper to bumper traffic, further crowded with scooters and motorcycles speeding in between the two lanes. So we frogger our way across, Penny in tow, and head straight for the grocery and liquor store.
          Although this seems crazy to do every day for a week as we try and check projects off the list, there are a surprising amount of rewarding experiences as we carefully explore Nassau. There are a number of good marine hardware stores, and we are finding the things we need at only slightly above back home prices. The people are mostly friendly, but not all friendly. Everyone expresses a genuine interest in our dogs. Especially Gimpy, who apparently is smaller than any dog most Bahamians have ever seen. She brings in a handful of offers and trades every day. Most are amazed she is 10 years old, and not a puppy, and nearly everyone who inquires about her wants to know how much Ted wants for her. Penny sparks a little interest, but she is about the same size as most Bahamian strays. Gracie makes Bahamians nervous, and rightly so. She apparently resembles a breed of stray the Bahamians call “crab dogs.” These dogs have been described to us as ferocious, to the point that you can keep kicking them off of you and they will still come back and latch onto your leg. They live in holes in the brush and lie in ambush, rushing out to steal groceries and such out of your hand, then run back through the briar bushes so you can’t possibly follow them. No one is sure how Bryan found a crab dog puppy in Minnesota, maybe a cruise ship stowaway or something. But the shoe fits.
          Ted and Shannon also showed me an excellent conch house under the East Bridge, which connects New Providence to Paradise Island. There are two long rows of wooden shacks under the bridge, with rusty tin roofs, nails sticking out everywhere, stank water in the street gutters, etc. but awesome food. The scene is very interesting as there are probably a hundred boats moored tightly between the two bridges, about half of them sunken. And there always seems to be tons of Bahamians in this area drinking beers and eating seafood, having a good time. The conch seems to be the least expensive seafood to buy. We are definitely the only honkies in the area, aside from a stray Asian off the cruise ships, and the people watching here is tremendous. I could have spent every lunch here for the week if money were permitting.  While eating conch the other day, a Bahamian driving by asked Bryan if he “bleached that dog that way”, regarding Gracie, to which he replied: “no, she came this way”. Hilarious.
          On the other hand, I watched and old guy off the cruise ship eat his conch salad at one of these shacks and drink his Kalik.  When he was done, he walks up to the guy slicing the conch and says: " I want that Kalik sign, its for my daughter, will you take it down for me"  The conch slicer is looking at him like "you want me to get on a stool and pull the nails out of the metal Kalik sign so you can give it to your daughter?"  After and awkward moment, the old guy says "yeah its for my daughter she's in Afghanistan"., he doesn't even offer to pay for it.  So the conch slicer gets a stool, goes to another booth to borrow a hammer, and starts taking the sign down.  Just then the owner of the shack (I guess) walks up and asks his employee why he is taking the sign down.  The old guy gets kinda pissed, and says " I want it for my daughter, she's in Afghanistan,...you know, keeping us all free, fighting terrorism."  In my head I say to the old guy: " Your in the Bahamas, not America, and just because your daughter joined the army doesn't entitle you to a free Kalik sign.  And just so we're clear, she's not keeping terrorism out of the Bahamas. The only people terrorizing Bahamians are cruise-shippers like you.  But I just keep my mouth shut and eat my conch.

          We have been taking the back roads through neighborhoods to avoid walking on the high traffic roads as we search out the cheapest grocery store, which also provides rich people watching fare. The houses are very close together, as you would imagine, so we pass by guys working out in their yard, moms braiding their children’s hair, kids walking home from school, old guys working on cars, old guys working on boats, I guess standard things any neighborhood would exhibit. Also we often have these pseudo-confrontations where a pack of 5-6 dogs will charge out from under a house when they see Penny, and Penny and I just freeze waiting for a ruckus, but the dogs always stop right at the street line and come no further out into the street. At times they are only 5 feet away from Penny, but the come no further. This has happened about six or seven times and always ends the same: I am relieved to not have had to break up a 6 dog pile-up, Penny always bows up and huffs and puffs as if to say “those fuckers better stay in their yard where its safe” and the dogs slowly step out into the street as we get farther away, barking the whole time like: “keep moving bitches”. Its only been stressful for a few moments, but luckily so far has always ended the same.  (upate: since posting this Gracie apparently met up with the wrong gang of crab dogs and suffered a bite to the back)

Nassau anchorage, notice floating disco in background

          High pride purchases here are the following: Franzia box wine (burgundy)-25 liters for less than 100 dollars. Flor de Cana rum- 11$ per liter. That’s pretty much it. Everything else is average quality and slightly above average pricing. We knew that getting into this.

Chub Cay to Nassau

 Now I'll commence on telling my Chub Cay to Nassau update, which the other two boats probably posted a week ago.  For me, the only thing worth mentioning about Chub Cay was the spearfishing we did off Mama Rhoda Rocks.  Dave from Texas Two Step took us out in his super-dinghy to show us around and we had a damn-good time.  After seeing him free-shoot a spanish mackerel with his Hawaiian sling (not pole spear) I've broken down here in Nassau and bought one.

           

What!?  Nooooo. This picture isn't set up.  I threw the lobster in the pot and that's how he landed.

         

I have a couple of objectives for this update, and they are as follows:
1.) Give a summary on how the GUALBY has performed so far
2.) Ask for advice from the Gualby Nation support crew on three subjects:
A.) Fishing woes
B.) Penny issues
C.) Outer Island to-do list
Number One:
I was browsing through the GPS menu options as we left Chub Cay, and noticed some interesting facts: Total miles traveled since leaving Key West: 698. Top speed: 10.6 knots. Moving Average Speed : 6.3 knots. (as opposed to total average speed, which would factor in all those 0.0 knot nights I leave the GPS on for anchor watch. This got me thinking that I should comment on the Gualby’s performance overall, since I’m sure the support crew back home would like to know how things have been.
We are traveling in a Flotilla of three other boats, and prevailing conditions always change which boat does better on any day long passage. If there is no wind, which has happened twice on day long passages, we motor, and Gualby always comes in last. These Hondas and I have slowly been getting to know each other, and it definitely wasn’t love at first site. But as we work through our relationship problems, we set boundaries for each other and are getting along much better. The Hondas need a good 10-15 minutes of warm up time, which sometimes pisses me off.  If they don't get to warm up they konk out when I shift from forward to neutral to reverse or vice versa, despite repeated adjustments to the idle.   Once warm they do pretty good and don’t konk out as easily. They don’t feel like they have as much torque as the old yamaha 15hp four stroke I had previously (these are brand new Honda 15hp four strokes for those not in the know). But I guess it is hard to give a good comparison since the boat is a lot heavier then it ever was with the yamaha. I was expecting close to 10 knots of speed with both Honda’s at full throttle in flat water with no wind or current. But I actually only get about 8 knots. Running both engines at about ¾ throttle gets me about 7 knots, but uses a lot of fuel (can’t really give exact numbers yet, but maybe soon). If I run one engine at a little more than half throttle I can do 5 knots, which is much more fuel efficient, so that is what I’ve been doing. All these numbers are based on no wind and flat water. If there is any wind at all, it is almost always easier to sail., so that’s what we do.
          We don’t have any wind instruments, so all wind speeds are subject to my estimation. Our fastest sail since leaving Key West has been this most current one, from Chub cay to Nassau, which was also our only downwind sail so far. The wind was out of the north and we were heading southwest to Nassau. I would say seas were 3-4 feet, with occasional 5 footers, and apparent wind never felt like more than 20 knots to me. Our boat speed pretty much stayed above 8 knots for this whole 35 mile trip, with an occasional 10 knot kick if we surfed down a wave.

Meg's serious when she sails, seriously nerdy, big steering hand

          I realize some mofo’s are gonna call bullshit on this comment, so I put some video of the GPS under “360’s” so check it out. And its video, not just a screen shot of the gps when were surfing, like some posers do. Anyways, the Gualby Nation support crew doesn’t need the validation of the video cuz they’ve all seen what she can do, especially Reenie, who holds the speed record to date with 13.4 knots on the Gualby. On the Nassau crossing we had very nice conditions, felt like we were hauling ass, and the boat acted like a princess to hand steer. I’m sure Wally and Jimmy could have squeezed another knot or two out of her, but we felt comfy just going 8-9 knots. Even in those seas it was possible to step away from the helm for a moment or two to check the fishing lines without doing a 90 degree turn from the quartering waves. Which brings me to my next point of business….fishing.
          Let me first describe my fishing set up: Two handlines, one off each sugarscoop. The handlines are 60 feet of 3 strand nylon, break strength 1500lbs, connected to an 800lb ball bear swivel, which is connected to 60 feet of 300lb mono, which is connected to a 250lb ball bearing snap swivel, which then typically has 6-10 feet of 80lb wire leader, which is then twisted onto a lure. The hand lines are attached to a cleat on each side of the boat, but also have an 18 inch bungee tied in as a shock absorber. Its set up so that when the bungee is pulled to its maximum length the nylon line then takes the brunt of the force. In the center of the boat I have one rod holder which houses a 6 foot heavy duty, put your dick in the dirt trolling rod with a 6/0 penn senator (handed down by The Admiral Jerry G.) On deck and ready for deployment is a “star” casting rod with a penn 650 spinning reel with 25lb test, which usually has a jig or spoon tied on for casting to dolphin or cobia or anything that swims up to the boat.
          I’m pulling all artificials, sometimes skirts with a piece of conch skin or small fillet of pinfish, sometimes just skirts, sometimes a cedar plug, or some kind of jet head on one handline. On the other handline I’m pulling a deep diving, fat lipped swimming lure, like a big Rapala, or some other big plug. On the middle line I pull a what I call a “little Richard” which is a squid-like purple and black or red and black skirted plug that skips on top of the water. (thanks Richard). The little Richard has caught some mahi (see picture), the skirts have caught some jacks, barracuda, bonita, other bullshit fish, etc.

Perfect size mahi for 2 humans and a dog, thanks Richard

          The diving lures by far get the most strikes, hard strikes. But here-in lies the problem. I keep losing the lures. On two occasions I’ve had a strike so hard that the carabiner on the bungee smacks the shit out of the boat as it stretches to maxiumum capacity, and then the line goes slack as soon as the full load is on the nylon. I pull it in and find that the 80lb wire leader is broken clean, somewhere in the middle…, not at the twist, so its not my twist job, jimmy. On one occasion a barrel swivel broke right at the lure head. I pulled it in and found a barrel swivel missing the lower loop of wire. On another occasion I had an estimated 50-60lb wahoo (I’m gonna say wahoo cuz its my story. It wasn’t a barracuda or a kingfish) hooked good and jumping on the line (don’t tell me wahoo don’t jump). After about a 10 second fight the line went slack and I pulled in another broken wire leader. Now I’m definitely not snagging bottom, because its around 3000 feet deep in the new providence channel and east of the berry islands, were the shit went down. As you can imagine I’m starting to get friggin pissed. One, because I’m losing fish, two, because these lures are about 20$ each, and 30$ or more in the Bahamas, and these are getting the most strikes. I’m guessing I don’t have enough of a shock absorber, but the alleged wahoo wasn’t pulling the bungee to the full length when the wire broke. So I don’t think a longer bungee would help. I guess I could use heavier wire, but I hate to miss out on strikes due to “gawdy” factor. Any advice from my fishing crowd would be appreciated, add comments below. Don’t say “get more rods and reels” cuz that’s not really and option, and don’t say “stop bitching and eat more spam” cuz that is an option that I’m already engaged in.
          The next problem I have is with Penny. If you don’t care about this one skip this paragraph and I’ll fully understand. Anyways, we are having a hard time keeping weight on Penny. She is now eating twice a day, easily double the actual quantity of food she was getting in dog food. But it is usually rice, pasta, or beans mixed with fish, fish skin, fish roe, lobster entrails, conch eyes, mouth and other parts, coconut meat and any oil or fat left in the pan from us cooking our own meals. She is eating nearly everything we eat, including lettuce, tomato, onion, spinach, peas, potatoes (all these veggies are canned except the lettuce). I wouldn’t say she has reached “malnourished” status or anything, but she is extremely active in this new lifestyle. And if she is going to serve us in the one valuable way she can, which is to keep us alive in the life raft, she needs to add some lb’s. Right now I bet she is a bit sinewy and tuff. Dog food in the Bahamas is very expensive when you can find it, like 30$ for a 10lb bag, and mostly looks like cornmeal crap. So I guess we'll keep doing what we're doing but I see us breaking down in the future and buying some store bought food.
          Third Topic: We are heading to Eleuthera and the outer islands next. I’m not sure how far south we will go before we cut back west to the Exumas, but If anyone has suggestions on what to experience we are all ears. Jimbo was spot on with the Hoffman Cay Blue Hole in the Berry Islands. On the to-do list so far is: catch a lobster bigger than my torso, shoot a grouper big enough to eat that lobster, and catch some waves not big enough to destroy me on the reef.  Thanks to all the friends, family and support crew of the Gualby Nation for helping us get this far.
C

Chest Clearing

          We've gotten a handful of emails commenting on how we are the weakest bloggers in the flotilla, and this I won't deny.  Here are my excuses:  1.)  Blogging is turning out to be only slightly less annoying than phone calling,....for me.  However, I am doing it, which is more than I can say for ever returning phone calls.  2.)  Ted has a Wifi antenna which typically gets him internet access when no one else has it.  He always offers to share it with the flotilla, but....(back to number 1).  3.)  Bryan and Angie still have a neurotic internet addiction that has hung on since leaving their shore-based life.  So when wifi signals are just barely readable, they simply bombard the access point for hours until it gives in an lets them connect.  
           I also need to get a couple things off my chest, because I didn't tell about them and in the beginning I said I would.  I saw Ted came clean with his dinghy dumbass story so I'll tell mine real quick.  My canoe has actually floated away twice since leaving Key West.  Once when the family was saying goodbye in Miami, everybody was on the Gualby, some people were sailing the canoe, and I went in to shore to give hugs and tears without taking the sail all the way down.  It was up but the mainsheet was loose, so the sail was free to flap.   I guess it flapped its way free from the line and sailed off while no one was on the boat, because as we were coming back to the Gualby in Bryan's dinghy, we saw the canoe on the beach at dinner key with some "local" shrimp fishermen, drinking and partying.  We went up to them, thanked the guy who saved the canoe, (who was probably in his late fifties, lived on a sailboat with his dog, and had a beard down to his waist) and I told him I owed him a beer.  His reply was that I actually owed him a bottle of gin,  because he had to tow it a very long way.  So the next day he received a bottle of the cheapest gin albertson's liquor sold, courtesy of Meghan.  I didn't want to insult the guy, cuz I was thankful he saved the canoe and I thought he at least deserved the second cheapest bottle of gin available.  But when we took him the Gibley's, he was so excited he did a little dance on the front of his 24' sailboat till the towel he was wearing almost fell off his waist,..the whole time holding the gin like an infant and singing to it. 
          The second time the canoe took off was in Bimini.  I happened to look back at the sugar scoops, where Penny was sitting, just staring off into the ocean.  Upon closer examination into what she was staring at, I saw the canoe floating off in the distance.  This damn dog couldn't have barked or wimpered or came and scratched at the door or something?  Nope, she was just gonna watch the thing float away.  Useless ass.  Luckily Bryan was already in his dinghy, and I think we both saw it at about the same time, so him and Angie got it for me that time.  They declined the bottle of Gibley's. 
          I can't think of anymore F-up's right now, but when I do I'll be sure and post.  And I'll make sure and post the new F-ups as soon as they happen.  Fair is Fair.
C




Chub Cay:
11/30/2010

      We are currently anchored outside the entrance to the Chub Cay Marina. It is blowing pretty hard right now but we are fairly well protected from the wind and Gualby needed a fresh water rinse off so we are just hangin out. At first we were a bit nervous about anchoring in the little cove we found due to its close proximity to what we thought was an exclusive, fancy-sha-mancy resort. There are huge pastel painted houses that clearly all had the same architect and large, ominous signs that say “Private Beach” and
“No Trespassing” in bold, large lettering.
      Our reservations were put to rest after we did some exploring. It seems this was to be a fancy-sha-mancy resort but the investors ran out of money half way through and construction just stopped. There are mansions that are half built and signs for spas that don’t exist. There is a fresh-water infinity pool that has a sweet swim up bar, with no bartending materials behind it. There are brand new lounge chairs set up around the pool with really nice cushions tied to them, overlooking a beach volleyball area yet there is not an employee to be found. Its awesome but a bit of a twilight zone as well. The only sign that we are not in the twilight zone is that there are some mega yachts in the marina. When we paddled our canoe past the newly polished teak and sparkling hulls of the yachts, we decided we didn’t need to ask what the price was per foot for a slip--we could just tell it was not in the budget.
      The wind should die down in a few days and then we are planning to head to Nassau, where there has been some big talks of boat projects. Until then, I think I might go for a swim in the infinity pool and put a cooler on the swim up bar.
M





BBQ and Trivia. . . Berry Island Style
11/28/2010

      Our original plan was to anchor in between Chub Cay and Crab Cay, which is the southern most part of the Berry Islands. We showed up with hopes of a nice calm anchoring area with little to no boats there-which is reasonable to us considering that is pretty much all that we have encountered so far. The area between the two cays were loaded with five Bahamians boats already anchored, a nasty current ripping through it, and lots of boat traffic in general due to the channel right next to our anticipated anchorage. We did a little turn around, poured ourselves a semi cold rum drink, sans ice, and checked out the GPS for other possible anchoring spots. We were relaxing at the helm when Con spotted a dock with only a small skiff tied up to it and the GPS labeled this spot, “The Berry Islands Club.” We decided to briefly tie up to the dock and I was going to run in and buy a bag of ice for our quickly warming rum drinks. A half toothless, wide grinning Bahamian caught our lines and helped tie us up. Con and the fisherman talked fish while I ran up to the Berry Islands Club.
      Herbie, our soon to be trivia announcer/DJ, greeted me at the entrance. I implored about buying some ice and he gave me a plastic grocery bag of ice, price: “no worries, mon.” I gave a look past Herbie to a seemingly well stocked bar with several unoccupied bar stools and asked with all the charm I have if it would be cool if we stayed rafted up to his dock if we bought some drinks at the bar. He responded with a smile, a nod, and a “rock on, mon” He also said that we happened to have pulled up to where the party was going to be at tonight, which included a BBQ, trivia, and late night dancing. I promptly told Herbie that we were ready to party, after all it was Friday night. It was Saturday, but Herbie only laughed a little as he corrected me. I hustled back to Conor and the boat to tell him about the gem we had stumbled upon.
The rest of the Tortilla Flotilla arrived and we all agreed that we could definitely spend $1/foot at the bar instead of trying to go find a different area to spend the night. We all got on our SATURDAY going out clothes and headed to the bar. Kalik was $3 a bottle which is cheap for beer in the Bahamas and the crew that floated in and out of the bar were all friendly and kind. The smells of the BBQ were floating around and the thought of slow roasted ribs was too much to pass up; and sharing a plate was a non option. Our plates were loaded with ribs, macaroni salad, and a fresh greens and tomato salad. Our meals were enjoyed on a picnic table, which later toppled over, spilling me and Bryan onto the grass as the opposite side of the table got up in seemingly unplanned unison. We gave our compliments to the chef, Big Nasty and his son/sous chef, Lil Nasty. There is apparently a Medium Nasty but he was not part of the culinary team that night.
      Trivia consisted of Herbie at a table with a mic playing jams off his computer and the small crowd in the bar yelling out the artist and title. Our bartender slung cold Kaliks and kept score. The Traynor boys represented the Flotilla well and tied for second place. Prize: More Kaliks. Trivia turned into just jams and Frank killed it on the dance floor--with encouargment from everyone at the bar. We made it to midnight that night which is far and away the latest we have stayed up the whole trip. Nice work Berry Islands Club. 
M



　
Thanksgiving

      We anchored up at Hoffmans Cay the day before Thanksgiving. The water was beautiful, the beach long and clean, and it allegedly was home to a Blue Hole. We paddled the canoe in and found a pretty well traveled path that led into the middle of the island. With Penny as our excited leader, we followed the path and came upon an awesome Blue Hole. The path led us to the edge of a 25 foot ledge that was the perfect jumping off place into the seemingly bottomless Blue Hole. The jumps off the ledge started immediately, and I have to say my favorite jumps were from the Traynor boys. The classics, “I’m still riding my invisible bicycle even though I drove it off the edge” and the “levitating yoga pose.” After you jump off the edge where you climb out is a spooky yet beautiful cave where rock formations drip down from the ceiling. These “rock drips” were not only dangerous to your head (ask Byran) but a topic of debate whether or not they were stalagtites. Gualby crew and Frank think no. The swimming in the Blue Hole was super cool but a little creepy. The talk of salt water sea monsters from middle earth was brought up a few times.  The Blue Hole was definitely the most amazing Mother Nature creation we have seen so far in our travels.  The water was so incredibly blue and deep and the cliffs that surrounded the almost perfect circle of water gave it a feeling of protection.  The cliffs gave way to lush, green vegetation which was a beautiful contrast to the blue of the deep water hole. 
      On the morning of Thanksgiving, the men went out via dinghy and hunted while the women gathered. . . at the Gualby for Thanksgiving gabbing and cocktails. The guys came back with lobster, conch, coconuts, and a grouper. The girls had made lots of laughs, and a key lime pie. We all went back to our own boats to get ready for our alternative Thanksgiving feast on the beach. Our plan was to get to the beach an hour before sunset, so about 30 minutes after the sun went below the horizon we paddled to shore and laid out the feast. Our Thanksgiving included creamy lobster rambul pasta, risotto, stuffing, a stuffing/turkey (canned)/green bean casserole of deliciousness, a salad with beans, corn, pineapple, and almonds, mac and cheese, potato, onion and conch fritter type things, and freshly made bread. Yes, we were carb loaded up enough to run a marathon the next day, but damn was everything delicious. We also met some new friends that joined us on the beach for our Thanksgiving bonfire feast. Dave, Leslie, and their daughter Michelle, joined us for some laughs from their 37 foot Leopard, “Texas Two Step.” Wonderful, different, and a thankful Thanksgiving was had by all.
M

More of the Bimini Islands

11/17/2010
          We are currently in our third anchorage of our trip, so feeling like anchorage experts at this point, we agree that this anchorage is awesome. I keep thinking to myself, “should I be really trying to take this all in, capture a bunch of pictures, and relish in this beautiful and seemingly almost perfect anchorage; or is this the norm and there are a million more anchorages just like this and possibly even sweeter?“ The first day here we got up early and paddled in so Penny could run around and we could explore. Con and I walked on clean, white sand and climbed over grey, dried trees smooth to the touch from the ocean tides lapping over them twice a day. There I looked at the white sand stretching out into ridiculously clear water that has such a range of intense blues and claimed, with a laugh, that I had found paradise and I was done exploring. Of course not true, but I felt that way. This was the island I thought about in my head after I came home from work tired and frustrated and prepared myself to go back and do it all again the next day. The snorkeling is beautiful, tons of brightly colored fish and there are parts where almost the whole ocean floor is covered in different colored sea fans dancing with the ebb and flow of the gentle swell. I snorkeled yesterday with the flip camera to record how cool the snorkeling was but Con and I couldn’t even finish watching it on the computer because it was going to make us sea sick the footage was so shaky. So everyone is just going to have to believe me because the proof is too brutal to watch. When I get a steadier hand underwater I will post a video. Conor actually asked if I was swimming with the hand that was holding the camera.

          Our days at are filled with snorkeling, hunting for fish, lobster, conch, exploring, fishing and yes, reading and napping. When the sun starts to get lower in the sky, we get on the VHF with the other boats and discuss what we are bringing to the island campfire for dinner that night. We canoe in with our bounty from that day and chill around the campfire. We share food, laugh and tell stories, and we acknowledge what an incredible place we are experiencing.
M

　

Conch Clean Conor

          While snorkeling the Sapona, a wreck between Gun Cay and Bimini, I found 3 fat conchs and want to show the fam and friends how we cleaned them,…it was an interesting experience. First of all if you’ve never seen a live queen conch, let me describe them: aside from the shell which everyone knows, when you pick one up and turn it over you will see the fat meaty foot part first, with a pointy hook-shaped operculum, then you notice two eyes on the end of 1 inch stalks looking back at you. In between these eyes and a little south is a 1 inch proboscis, a tube shaped mouth part that the animal uses to suck up dirt and food. The animals never really seem scared when you pick them up, they don’t suck up into the shell like you‘d expect, instead they stay exposed and prefer to point their eye stalks back at who is carrying them around. I already had some reservations about taking conch because it seems wasteful to kill the animal and discard this huge amazing shell that will sit in the ocean probably for years. But seeing their eyes looking back at you conveys some kinda “tough guy” personality which also makes them difficult to just kill without thinking about it.
          Anyways, a quick flashback to eating cracked conch and I’m over my reservations about killing them, so I get on with it. I have never cleaned a conch before nor have I had any instructions, aside from the Bahamians telling me that if you kill the conch you must eat the thistle raw to pay respect to the animal and carry on its “essence”, which has the added benefit of making you “strong”. So the following picture diagram should tell the tale. The pictures start after the first conch came out, because that’s when Meghan discovered I was doing this and started taking pictures.And that’s it, now repeat two more times, including knocking the shells in the water.
Post script: after eating three thistles, and seeing the piles of shells around the docks that the Bahamians clean, I doubt they eat the thistle out of every conch.
There is some more work to do involving peeling the extra tough leather skin from around the foot with your teeth, but that hasn't been mastered yet, so i'll save that for another post
C

One conch worth of meat on the board, two conchs up on deck, feeling cocky at this point

pointing to where I’m gonna poke the whole with the screwdriver, which I learned  from looking at the already harvested conch shells all over the bottom

tapping in the hole, foot bracing is imperative

shell slips, knock 2 conchs in the water

concentrate on the conch at hand



also dropped the conch I was working on in the water, so hair is now wet after swimming down and getting all three conchs back.  but conch is now pissed, so he has to pulled out with pliers



Victory!!



  That clear gelatinous tube at the bottom is the thistle (I’m pretty sure)



Pull the thistle out

squint at the thistle in the sun, mentally preparing for what's about to go down

stop delaying and get'r done

try not to make a stupid face