Just took a cold shower and washed away the salt and sand from our day's adventure.  We did the tourist thing and rented a car!  We picked the car up at the marina and adjusted to having the steering wheel on the right side. We will try to remember to drive on the left side of the road.  We dropped our laundry off with Audrey in town and promised to be back at 4:00.  We drove around the island for 6 hours and walked up at light house, had Bahamian fried conch for lunch, walked a beautiful Atlantic Ocean beach with lots of washed up treasures. We saw a monument to Columbus, and an old castle.   Back on the boat by sunset, and ready to relax if winds don't clock around as they are predicted.  Trying to keep up my New Year's Resolution to write every day, so pictures and more details later!

Happy New Year!  I hope it will be a good year for everyone especially my two girls.
Kara in Connecticut and Carly on Hilton Head.  I miss them both very much and vow to be with them next year for Christmas.  Wonder where our boat will be in a year?!

Christmas was on Rum Cay and was as quiet as the island.  We went to Kaye's bar
for a luncheon provided by mostly winter residents in the area.  We ate ham, turkey and the local favorite rice and beans.

The bar was built by Delores Wilson who was born on Rum Cay and moved to Nassau when she was fourteen.  She returned to Rum when she was in her thirties and lives there today with her two daughters who manage the bar for her now.  Delores will turn 81 on January 24th, and she was truly a beautiful lady that touched my heart.  She gave me an autographed copy of the book she wrote when she was in the hospital about 10 years ago.  It is called Rum Cay, My Home tells about her early years on the island being raised by her grandmother, and her later years helping the island get a road and a dock!

We have been delighted to have a water maker on board since we left Jacksonville, and during our stay at Rum, Will discovered a small drip in one of the elbows.  So he tightened it and....pop!....it broke off the membrane unit.  We didn't lose any water, but until we get a new part there will be no water making.  Of course, there is no where on Rum Cay to find any water or a kind of part like we need.  We did meet Bobby who once owned the marina on the island, and he took Will to his machine shop to hunt for a part, but no luck.  Bobby is a white man whose parents built a home here many years ago.  He is a multi talented man who flies planes, carves statues out of brain coral and now that his marina is closed, he has taken up gardening with his girl friend Gro (unusual name but sweet lady originally from Norway). While on Rum Cay there were three other sailboats coming and going.
One sailboat was a single hander from Canada, Sylvio on Avanti.  He was our neighbor in the anchorage and we enjoyed spending time with him before he departed on Christmas day.  The other boat was crewed by Captain John and his crew mate John...that was easy to remember.  And then we met a couple that just arrived on a catamaran named Twiga...which is South African for giraffe.

The day after Christmas is Junkanoo day.  The Bahamians make their costumes themselves and use flour and water to paste paper mâché strips on tee shirts and jeans.  We were lucky to be able to watch their performance.  The Junkanoo starts at 5:00 am and they travel throughout the town going to different homes to collect money to through a party after the first of the year.  We were able to watch them as they came down the road to the marina.

Junkanoo

We left for San Salvador on Friday, December 27th.  It was a 35 mile trip and we had good winds to get us there.  We were 1/2 mile from shore and the water depth is over 500 feet deep.  We found a nice anchorage near the down town area south of a marina called Riding Rock.  If the wind changes direction it will be too uncomfortable in surges from the ocean, and we may have to tuck into that marina.
We came to this island in hopes of finding our part for the water maker.  We hope to be able to buy water until the water maker is fixed, and we need a bank.

San Salvador is the cleanest island we have found in the Bahamas.  It has an extra long runway at the airport that brings many people from Canada, France and Italy to Club Med at the northern end of the island.  The people here are as friendly as we have found throughout the Bahamas, and everyone is so willing to help us find that little replacement part for our water maker.  Truly, everyone we stopped to ask tried so hard to help us.  One man named Michael who owns the grocery store even spent a morning driving us to the bank, to Club Med's machinery shop, and the electrical plant...which is where we finally did find one!

So on New Year's Day Will worked on replacing the new elbow, and we now have a full tank of water.  We were so surprised to see Twiga arrive on New Year's Eve and we spent our evening with them on their boat.

Happy New Year.  I have a New Year's resolution and that is to write everyday on my blog.  I may not be able to post pictures.  I have been keeping a journal throughout our trip, and I am hoping this will become my new journal

Merry Christmas to everyone.  We are in Rum Cay.  Weather is sunny and low 80's.  The wind is about 10 knots from the east and there are some white caps that slap the bow every once in awhile. We plan to celebrate in the little town of 27 residents with a few winter residents.  They hold the celebration at Kaye's bar and I will post pictures tomorrow.

We miss you all so much, but we will enjoy these beautiful blue waters and memories until we get to see you again some day.

Rum Cay

Good morning from Rum Cay.  We made it here on Wednesday, December 18th at day break.  it is a small settlement with only 30 local residents and about 100 winter residents.

Our journey started on Monday the 16th when we left Governor's Harbor in Eleuthera.  We had clean laundry, some extra potatoes, carrots, and cabbage and some fond memories of this place.  We attended a movie at the Globe Princess Theater sneaking Bentley in inside of a canvas bag.  We ate a fish dinner at the weekly Fish Fry by the beach.  We walked four miles over a hill onto the other side of the island to swim in the Atlantic Ocean.  Thankfully we were able to hitchhike back as we weren't looking forward to climbing back up over that hill.

We left the harbor at 9:45 am and motored in calm seas flying the Genoa sail when the winds permitted.  We did 85 miles in 22 hours.  We stopped for diesel fuel in Powell Point at the southern tip of Eleuthera.  The bright full moon was a wonderful aid to our travels.  We anchored off a beautiful resort in Fernandez Bay on Cat Island at 7:45 am.  It looked like a perfect place to spend some time waiting for the expected strong east winds to arrive by Thursday.

But the captain felt we needed to keep going with the light winds we are having, so another night of sailing over night.  We sailed off into the sunset at 5:15 for a night of motor sailing in calm seas and full moon light.  Our shifts were the same as last night..  I slept from 6:00 - midnight.  Will slept from 1:00 - 5:00.  This probably doesn't seem fair with me getting six hours and Will only four, but believe me it isn't easy to fall asleep at six, so I usually only got about 4 or 5 hours myself.  What do
you do when sailing through the night?  We have an automatic pilot, so we set our course and monitor it on a regular basis.  We watch radar periodically.  Will likes to listen to down loaded PBS on his ipod and I like playing games on my Ipad. You do a lot of thinking and hoping all goes well through the night.  Bentley cuddles up with whoever is resting.

After 13 hours we make landfall at Rum Cay at 6:15 am and a total of 60 miles. We put sails away, enter Port Nelson harbor and drop the anchor at 9:45 am.  The water is aqua blue and clear as drinking water.  However, there is a surge from the ocean so there will be some rocking and rolling.  Will put on a bridle to turn the boat into the waves so we pitch forward and back like a hobby horse instead of rolling from side to side.

We ventured into town yesterday to get gasoline for our outboard dingy engine.  We were met my Eden the local police officer and got a ride in the police car to Jefferson's home where he distributes the petrol out of drums and a siphon.  We needed four gallons and Eden waited for us to fuel up our jerry can.  Then he was happy to give us a ride back to the dock with a stop at the local grocery store.  The pickings were thin.  The produce is in the cooler and the meat department is in the deep freezer.  We purchased eggs, cabbage, a bag of carrots and 4 potatoes for $10.00.

So it looks like this will be our home for Christmas.  The east winds today are in the 20 to 25 knot range, so we may not even make it to shore.  Bentley is always anxious to get to land, but he is a hardy sea dog and will make do with the fore deck if necessary.

We wish you all a relaxing weekend and a stressless beginning  of the week in preparation for Christmas.  I am sure there is lots of shopping going on, something we don't have here in paradise.  I do not miss Wal Mart but a Publix or Harris Teeter would be a nice Christmas gift from Santa.

We are now in what feels to me like New York City.  There are grocery stores, gas stations, internet, and a very old but beautiful library.   We are on Governor's Harbor, Eleuthera.

We arrived in Eleuthera on December 4th and haven't seen any of the above mentioned luxuries in over ten days.  Our first stop was a horseshoe shaped cove called Royal Island.  Did our usual anchor before sunset, eat dinner , dingy Bentley into shore, watch an episode of a series we like called 24, and then in bed my 7 or 8 pm.  

Moving on we went east towards Current Cut which is exactly what the name implies...current flowing through a cut.  We anchored off the settlement there and enjoyed our walk into the quaint little town

Made it through the cut at slack tide with no problems and crossed over to Gregory Town.  The winds were strong from the east, but we motored through them enjoying the rainbow as we plowed along for 5 hours.  We arrived at a small anchorage called Annie's Bight.  We are surrounded by high rocky cliffs and room enough for only us.

Gregory Town was once the pineapple growing capital of Eleuthera, but now it is a small quiet 

community that has suffered through many hurricanes.  The school which once over looked the

harbor stands deserted and falling apart.  The bell once hung on it's yellow and green walls.  All the schools in the Bahamas are the same color.  The stone church has stood throughout many storms.

Loved the clinic and post office sign.  We wondered if it was still active.  Heading out again after our walk around for a few hours, we again were faced with strong SE winds we were forced to head into Hatchet Bay, the safest Harbor in Eleuthera and the home of Alice Town.  We met our great friend Fred in this harbor on our first cruise to the Bahamas.  This year we are the only boat here and we tackled many boat chores.  The walk through town looking for a grocery store was unfruitful and after a few days, I feel claustrophobic.

This school could use some playground equipment.  There were no other play things and the basketball net needs replacing.

We left on December 11th and had much better winds and no waves, so we were able to make great time to make it to Governor's Harbor by 3:30.  We made a quick stop at Alabaster Cay and took a swim.  It was the first time I was in the water since being in the Bahamas.  Will goes into the water every time we anchor to hand set the anchor. 

So today we sit at Da Perk having coffee while we do laundry.  The road to the laundry is shared with much garbage, crumbling old homes, and chickens.   

We plan to be here until Monday, December 16th and will continue moving south. We will wait to see what the winds look like, but hope to male it to Rum Cay via Cat Island.  

Time for an update!   We did get a new elbow made for the exhaust system, and we rented a car to drive to Marsh Harbor to pick it up on Friday afternoon.  Then up early Saturday to take advantage of having a car we drove to the settlement called Cherokee south of Marsh Harbor.  It is a quaint little town of 300 people.  They do have a school.

We left Treasure Cay on Sunday morning and crossed the Sea of Abaco to Great Guana Cay.  We

hooked onto a mooring ball and hopped into the dingy to head to the Pig Roast at Nippers.

Nippers is an ocean side bar on a hilltop.  It is very colorful and has two pools and great views.

Bentley loved all of the attention he received and helped clean the deck of any dropped morsels of 

food.  The next morning we walked the town, which took about a half an hour, and found the

house where our friend John was born.  

We headed south in rainy, windy weather towards Hope Town on Elbow Cay.  The entrance is 

shallow, so we decided to anchor to wait until high tide which would be around sunset.  We put 

out an anchor, but we weren't able to get it set, so out went another anchor.  We still found that

we dragged 200 feet in the 20+ knot winds.  So not a relaxing wait, but finally made it into the

harbor before dark.  Again a mooring ball, but plenty to chose from as there are very few boats

here.  We have found that there are far less cruisers this trip, maybe because we are two or three 

months earlier than our last trips or lots of sailors are still waiting to cross over.  This November

has been unusually rough weather wise.

Leaving Hope Town this morning I figured this would be my last chance to have internet service until

we reach Eleuthera.  We hope to cross over the Northeast Providence Channel on Thursday.  We miss you all and hope you continue to follow our progress.