Leaving Georgetown was hard where we had  a good grocery store, liquor store and cheap wireless internet on the boat.

We had a full moon the night before we left and this apparently affected the fishing as we trolled 8 hrs in prime fishing water on the way to Conception Island without catching anything, nada, nothing. We stayed for 2 days at Conception, a reserve with good diving and snorkeling.  In Georgetown, some new friends told us about sharks attacking white bottom kayaks. We thought this story was highly unlikely until Jeri had two encounters of her own with an agressive nurse shark while kayaking.

Our next stop was Rum Cay which had many many coral heads to explore. We tried our hand at spearfishing but Jeri kept running me over with the dingy so I quit. We sailed in heavy seas and high winds overnight to Crooked Island where we stayed at French Wells cut and met some new cruising friends. The highlight of this area was seeing the Greater Famingos. They are wading birds and feed with an upside down bill. They are pink with black flight feathers and neck and legs are extended in flight. We found several flocks on the flats of Long Cay near a Hatian wreck.

The Hatians are amazing sailors who leave home in handmade wooden boats with rags for sails. They rarely come ashore except in Nassau where they pick up loads of Salvation Army clothes and trade for staples to take back to Haiti. We visited one small island where several Hatians were buried by the local Bahamian after they wrecked on the nearby reef and drowned. We saw humans bones in the sand.

The sand flats have large bonefish and baby tarpon. Conch were easily found in <2 feet of water 200′ from our boat. From French Wells we day sailed to Mayaguana, anchored at the South East point and left at 3 am for Turks and Caicos. We arrived Saturday at 11 am, found our way through the reef and are sitting in Turtle Cove Marina waiting for Kirstin, Adam and especially Kaden to arrive on Tuesday.

We arrived in Georgetown yesterday after 3 weeks in the Exumas.  We found our friends Pete and Chris on Scooter.  Over the years they have shown us how to spearfish, hunt lobster, find shells and sea glass, and weave palm fronds.  We hung out in a secret cove along with Monty and Sara, the creators of “The Explorer Charts of the Bahamas”.   It turns out Sara is an Innis from Louisiana so we agreed to share family history information.  Small world isn’t it?  On the way to Georgetown, Pete caught a Mahi Mahi  which Jeri turned into the best fish curry ever for dinner tonight.  The night before we had yellow-fin grouper which could be the finest fish ever grilled.  We had lobster picata made by Chris and baked lane snapper caught  by Monty.  You can’t buy food this good at any restuarant.  Keri is learning to weave baskets and to make jewelry from sea glass.  Georgetown is great for boat repairs, stocking up on supplies, and of course internet access. 

Our life has slowed down again, where the most urgent task for the day is finding a place to buy groceries or do the laundry. Aphrodite has been in the Bahamas for about 2 weeks now, where “it is all about the water”. The landscape doesn’t hold a candle to the magnificent water, crystal clear and every imaginable shade of blue.

We have been doing short day trips as we make our way south. Most of our time has been on Exuma island. Our usual day’s activities include a yoga or pilates workout (for Keri and me) first thing in the morning, followed by beach walking, swimming, snorkeling or kayaking, ending with an incredible sunset. Every anchorage is glorious. Yesterday Keri and I snorkeled right off the boat in a beautiful coral garden and found a large sea turtle, a 3′ ray and a nurse shark. Today we snorkeled a cave which was just as spectacular as any dive I have done. The coral along the mini wall was vibrant orange, purple, red and yellow and teeming with fish. I wish I had a camera housing so I could take underwater pictures to share with you.

Our day sails have taken us through The Exuma Sea and Land Park where fishing and shelling is prohibited. So, we are looking forward to spear fishing and conching, starting tomorrow. Keri wants to get her own conch, clean it, eat it and take it home to Portland. It is open season for lobster as well. They’re harder to capture, but well worth the effort.

Two more weeks on Exuma and then onto the Outer Bahama Islands followed by Turks and Caicos where we meet Kirstin, Adam and Kaden! Imagine the fun we will have with Kaden on the boat.

Aphrodite is homeward bound!

We departed the Bahamas this morning and will sail directly to Baltimore, about 750 miles. The winds were predicted to be 15-20 knots coming from the ESE. I know that we are likely to run into storms along the way because the East coast has lots of cloud cover in the satellite pictures, but for right this minute, we have a clear blue sky, warm temp. and very comfortable sailing. Michael is out on the trampoline listening to the sounds of the rushing water beneath him and taking a nap. It will probably take us 4 days to get there at our current speed. Once we get into the Gulf Stream our speed will probably pick up some.

I will let you know when we arrive.

Jeri

The Abacos, the upper Bahamas Islands

The rainy season has arrived in the Bahamas. We departed Georgetown, the southern end of the Exumas, a week ago, with a predicted favorable weather window for heading north. Unfortunately, the window shut earlier than predicted so we did not make it to our anticipated destination. We were met with “white out rain conditions and squalls” so we decided to duct into a protected anchorage and wait out the storms. While anchored in a small but protected cove, we still broke anchor and started to drag. These anchor drags always seem to occur in the dark of the night, with driving rain, giving us no visibility. There was one point when we were within 6 feet of hitting a craggy shore. Thankfully, we have had a few years of experience dealing with this situation and both of us rose to the occasion and handled it without injury to us or the boat. Two days later, when the storms passed, we continued north to the Abaco Islands. These islands are close to the U.S. and more developed compared to the southern islands. There are several airlines servicing these islands and therefore lots more people. The water is greener than the Exumas, which is pristine clear with varying shades of aqua and blue, with more settlements/towns and cruisers.

On our sail north, we “thumped” into something. It wasn’t an alarming crash, just a thump, but both of us hurried out to the cockpit to see what we had hit. Just off our stern (back of the boat), we saw two whales surface, unfazed by the collision. We know of other boats who have collided with whales, suffering noticeable damage, so we felt amazed and lucky that our bump was apparently benign, that is until I was under the boat, cleaning the bottom and noticed that indeed we had suffered damage. We had broken 6″ broken off one of the keels in a clean vertical break from the bottom of the boat to the bottom of the keel. Luckily it does not effect the integrity of the boat so we can repair it when we return to the States.

We are now in the last weeks of our Bahamas cruising for this season. We will probably start looking for favorable weather windows to sail north to the States within the next week or two. The hurricane season begins in June, so we plan to have the boat in Baltimore by the middle of the month. Spending several months in the Bahamas has been wonderful. The Exuma Islands are by far the most pristine and undeveloped. The water is amazingly clear and refreshing, offering so many options of water sports, general appreciation, exploring and beach combing. Having said that, tomorrow we hope to dive a very beautiful reef off one of the Abaco Islands,(Baker’s Bay for those of you who have been here)which lacks clear water but has stunning coral growing from the floor of the ocean to the water level. While snorkeling today we saw brain coral larger than both of us!

Michael has experienced difficulty and frustration trying to get our pictures posted on our website because we have not been able to get a reliable fast speed connection. So, we just keep collecting pictures and will post them once we return to the States.

I hope all is well with you and that you are finding ways to enjoy your lives. There is so much to see and do.

Love to all of you,

Jeri and Michael

Georgetown, Exuma

April 26 – 29, 2006

The regatta experience was a blast. Michael’s wish to get on one of the sailboats was fulfilled. He actually got himself a place on two boats, an A class as well as a B class boat, but had to drop off one boat before the end of the regatta because he exhausted himself rigging and racing 2 boats a day. I became the dinghy boy for one of the teams so I was out with them all day as well, either shuttling crew on and off the boat or running up and down the course in the dinghy to watch and take pictures. It was a terrific time, a very exciting competition to participate in. AND we got to do one of our favorite things, hang out with the local people. Today is Sunday, and the event is over. As the islanders prepare their boats to return home, we are resting our weary bodies. Unfortunately, Michael picked up a bug and is bed with a sore throat and bad cough and my arthritic joints are sore tired. It is a challenge to grow old when your spirit is still young and spire.

We will be here for another week and then will continue exploring more of the Bahamas Islands. I think that we will begin looking for favorable weather windows to sail north to the States by the end of the month.

Jeri and Michael

We have been doing one of our most favorite things, Not Spending Money! I love it. It has been months since we have put fuel in the tank or groceries in the storage area. We have been eating fish, conch or food out of the freezer and sailing when the winds are favorable. Last week was the first time we motored in a long time. We went to one of the outer islands with another boat who had visitors onboard and therefore living under the constraints of a time schedule. We had a terrific time and ended up meeting the family of a local fisherman. There were about 12 of them on two boats, taking a week vacation. They gave us fish and lobster so we invited all of them plus the 4 from the other boat to join us for dinner. It was wonderful. I learned Bahamian culinary preparations for everything and we were invited to visit them at their home on another island.

Next week we return to Georgetown for their annual Outer Islands Sailboat Regatta. The festivities go on for a week, day & night, and promises to be quite a memorable event. Each sailboat, sloop, is handmade from wood, relatively small, 18′ to 28′, with an enormous sail area, and very low profile so it has the potential to go very fast,(60′ mast, 37′ boom and 2 ladder looking apparatus which allows the crew to hike themselves Way out). Michael, who has been hoping to be “rail meat” on one of the sloops, might find his wish come true because the fishing men/boys are from one of the winning family contestants. They have invited us to hang out with them for the duration of the and hopefully, depending on the wind strength, will have a spot for Michael on one of those hike out boards.

More to come next week as we celebrate Bahamian style……

Come visit us, we have room and lots of fun to offer.

Jeri and Michael

Today was a day to remember! Yesterday Michael and I sailed from the Exumas, Bahamas to a remote spit of land on the island of Eluthera, owned by Princess Cruise Line, to meet Mom/Grams/Grandmom, Kay, Pat& Rog, Desi & John and Karon & Kris. The ship’s captain provided the GPS coordinates and Mom arranged for us to be cleared to land our dinghy and join them for a beach BBQ. It was such a hoot. We arrived last night and were up at 7 am to watch the cruise ship slowly sail into view and anchor. An hour or two later we were on shore to meet their tender. I have a few great pictures which I will post as soon as we are back into internet access. Mom looked her usual terrific, color coordinated, accessorized self, and Kris looked great, much better than I expected. She says that she has been doing really well while in the warm climate. We shuttled mom, Kay, Karon and Kris out to Aphrodite in our dinghy and then Rog, Desi and John sailed a 14 ft Hobie Cat out to join us. It was a real treat to show them our boat/home and share a little bit of our lives. It is not everyone who can sail out of the wild blue yonder and meet family for lunch on a remote island.

Tomorrow we sail back to the Exumas where Michael will try his luck at spear fishing for lobster one more day before the season closes. We will be heading south to Georgetown, Exuma, Peter and Tina’s old stomping grounds.

Pictures to follow……

love, Jeri