Returning from the Bahamas

Hi Folks,

This will be our trip’s final episode, and difficult to write, but that is getting ahead of myself. We spent the last day in Marsh Harbour hanging out with Terry and Margaret, a British couple who had come to the U.S. to buy a boat, since the dollar is so cheap compared to the British Pound, and then, at least, in theory, sail it back across the Atlantic. We had become friends a month or so earlier, but we had spent much of that time telling them that the 2005 Gemini (similar to our boat) was not designed to cross the Atlantic safely. Terry has sailed a bit, Margaret is totally new to sailing, but up for an adventure.

We spent the first day, Tuesday, sailing north to Green Turtle Cay, about 25 miles away, before a front was due to blow through the next night that might stop us from proceeding through Whale Passage, which can turn very violent in such blows. We had a nice sail up to Green turtle, and Catatonic pulled into the dock at the Green Turtle Club Marina. I had met the manager of the GTC on a flight a few weeks earlier, and she had invited us to visit with special rates and great food. “Bonnie” decided to anchor out. That night the winds came and blew all night over 30 knots. We were glad to be tied up at a dock. “Bonnie” made it through the night OK, but early next morning she started dragging anchor. With much ado, including 2 small boats zooming out to her assistance, there was minimal damage done – a bent strut for the wind turbine and some chopped up branches on the side of the harbor. Terry and Margaret were fine but shaken up. "Bonnie"

After waiting out the front and its accompanying northerly winds, we set out on Friday with Northeast winds, and sailed all day, from 6:30 AM until 4 PM , to cover the 50 or so miles to Great Sale Cay. The island is uninhabited, but a good anchorage, where many boats stay for a night between long sails, since there are few places to stop going in or out of the Bahamas. That evening, we rowed over to “Bonnie” and discussed the next day and the weather, since everything in sailing is dependent on weather. I suggested that we were probably going to sail all the way to Florida – about 100 miles, because of worsening weather, and that we should start out about midnight after about 4-5 hours sleep. That would bring us in at dawn to a tricky shoal area that we had to cross and before dark to Lake Worth in West Palm Beach, so we could have visuals on that, too. Terry and Margaret refused to leave that early, choosing instead to leave at 7 AM the next day. I had a cold and wasn’t in the mood to argue, so we reluctantly agreed.

We set off at dawn on Saturday morning, just before 7 AM with light wind coming from the North. This was not predicted and we hoped that the northerly wind would subside or clock around, since Northerly winds rub against the southerly current of the Gulf Stream and can cause big nasty waves. The winds slowly built and stayed from the Northeast at about 10-15 knots throughout the day. Motorsailing across the banks with both sails up we maintained a good pace of about 6-7 knots. At one point, as we were trolling a fishing line out behind us, they crossed behind us and we managed to “catch” an 8000 pound fish called “Bonnie”, the other Gemini. We disentangled the line with no damage except for a snapped fishing line.

As we approached West End, Bahamas, the last point of land before the Gulf Stream, we encountered 2 sailboats going the other way. We hailed them and asked how the conditions were in the Atlantic. They reported 4-6 foot waves with Northeast winds. They also reported that the weather was supposed to deteriorate over the next day (we knew this from NOAA reports on the VHF radio which we could now receive), but if we hurried up, we might get across unscathed. We thanked them and proceeded without much difficulty on through the last set of shoals near West End called Indian Passage – about 5 miles of shallow water surrounded by coral heads.

We started into the Gulf Stream and all seemed fairly calm, about 2-4 feet waves with 10-12 knots of wind coming from the Northeast. We were able to motorsail and surf down the waves comfortably going from 6-9 knots up and down the waves. As the sun was setting, we were getting tired but the going was fairly easy. About 6 more hours to go. Sunset in the Gulf Stream

That evening the winds and waves began to increase. The boat was surfing heavily, occasionally causing the person at the helm (Ronnie and I took 2 hour shifts), to occasionally have to wrestle with the steering as a large wave would push our stern sideways. All the time we kept “Bonnie’s” lights in sight, occasionally hailing each other about our heading or just to check in to see if everything was OK. At one point I radioed “Bonnie” that we had just had a flying fish land in our cockpit, but it was too small to keep, and Ronnie insisted that I throw it back.

As we approached the coast of Florida, we saw a huge glow from all the lights on shore. Specifically we started seeing occasional bright lights in the sky that would appear and then disappear. We were 30 miles out and realized that it was airplanes taking off from West Palm Beach airport. Additional strange lights started appearing, and we could not discern the entrance to Lake Worth – just too many lights. There was no moonlight to help and everything was backlit by the lights from the shore. Finally about 1 mile off the coast, with the aid of our GPS, we decided that a set of 3 green lights was probably the entrance to the harbor we had been looking for. We weren’t sure until we got much closer, perhaps 1/4 mile away. Ronnie went up and lowered the mainsail – we had already rolled up the jib earlier, since the wind was virtually behind us and it was difficult to fly it at night with all the wave action. It was about midnight when we hailed “Bonnie” that we were lined up in the channel, but she replied back that they were having some serious problems.

First they could not start their engine, and did not know why (later found out it was a torn rubber washer). Also they could not furl their foresail, it was stuck open. As we were trying to advise them, a pilot boat coming out of the channel hailed us that a cruise ship was coming in and that we had to get out of the channel. The pilot boat’s attitude was nasty, and I considered telling him off, but since we were occupied with Bonnie’s troubles, we decided to sail out of the channel. Also, since the northeast winds and waves were kicking up we were being driven out of the channel anyway. For about 30-45 minutes, we continued to circle “Bonnie”. Finally, they managed to get their jib closed, but were still unable to start their engine. Without any control or power the waves and wind were driving them into shallow water, and we radioed them to throw out an anchor and call Towboat U.S. After they threw out the anchor in about 8 feet of water, it held and they called Towboat. The Towboat was scheduled for about 5 minutes arrival, and Ronnie and I decided that they were safe. Ronnie was not feeling well from all the hours and waves, so we headed in and told “Bonnie” that we would meet up with them the next day.

Having taken over 1/2 hour to shepherd our buddy boat to seeming safety, Catatonic had been driven down the coast away from the inlet entrance by now 6 foot waves and 15 knots of wind. We started heading back to the outer green light, but saw another green light towards the harbor. Our boat has a very shallow draft, and it is almost always safe to cut corners on buoys, where thin water is present. We also knew that it was approaching high tide. In the blackness of the water and backlit by the shore lights, we made a left turn to align ourselves with the 2 green lights that represented the entrance to the harbor. No more than 10 feet from alignment, Ronnie screamed out “ROCKS!, TURN LEFT. TURN LEFT! “ A second later, I saw the rocks – black, about 5 feet high, and very jagged less than 20 feet off our bow. I threw the engine into full reverse, but it was hopeless. The 6 foot waves threw us onto the rocks. Somehow we spun counterclockwise so that our stern was now pinned against the rocks. The waves kept lifting Catatonic and crunching her stern onto the rocks – a horrible sound of breaking fiberglass. The engine died (it actually was pounded off and into the water we found out later) and the lights on our boat started to flicker and then went out. A couple of seconds later, our batteries started smoking and then blew up. I saw that the only way to get off the rocks was to sail off, so I tried to open our jib, but it was jammed. As the boat continued to pound against the rocks, I issued a “MAYDAY” to the Coast Guard on channel 16. They replied quickly and asked for our situation and position. Either Ronnie or I responded at different times as to where we were and our condition. They asked if we were taking on water, and I replied “No, but we are in danger of breaking up”. I raced forward to try to unjam the jib furler and to see the condition of our dinghy – it was well tied down – and I decided that if things did not improve quickly I might cut the dinghy free so that we would have a backup boat. I had my very sharp knife in my pocket. Ronnie continued to talk to the Coast Guard. As I came back to the cockpit, Ronnie had found the entangled furling line for the jib and shouted to try the jib again. I pulled hard, and it opened, filling immediately and pulled us off the rocks. The whole episode on the rocks seemed like an eternity, but was less than 5 minutes.

Ronnie checked on the bilges below, and there was a slight amount of water in the port bilge. By now the Towboat who had been headed for “Bonnie” knew of our situation and was routed by the Coast Guard to us instead. He called out to me to see if we were “Catatonic”. I said, Yes. He came alongside as we sailed slowly under jib alone and threw me a line with a bridle. Since our main cleat is the strongest, I attached it to the center cleat, and he began to pull us in toward the entrance. The Coast Guard hailed us to see if everyone was alright and if we were taking on water. This time I responded that we were alright, but we were taking on water. I had to reset the bridle to either side of the bow, since Catatonic was slewing all over the place – now we knew we had lost our rudders and unknown until now, our engine was being dragged through the water by only 2 ropes, having been driven off of the transom by the pounding on the rocks.

As we were towed inside the harbor, the Coast Guard boat pulled up alongside us, and repeated the question about whether we were taking on water. I replied “Yes” again, and they then insisted that we get off our boat. It is their job to ensure safety of lives, and water coming in dictates that they took us off. After gathering our passports, money and wallets, we got off. They assured us that we would be able to get back on the boat for the rest of our stuff. They then proceeded to ask us a lot of questions. There were about 6 or 7 of them on board – most in their early 20’s, the oldest one about late 20’s.

Besides standard name, address, citizenship questions, they asked about all of the equipment (mostly safety) that we carried on board, who was at the helm and whether we had taken any boating courses – we had. The chief of the Coast Guard crew concluded that he could not write us up for any citation - we had done everything we could and had our boat in proper condition.

After that some of the crew started telling Ronnie a bunch of horror stories that had happened on those rocks, a tugboat sank there last year, and uninsured sailboat sank there several weeks ago. Finally one guy whispered to Ronnie that they had just missed the rocks themselves at night last week and that “don’t tell anyone, it wouldn’t be too good for anyone to known that”.

We finally got towed into a dock at Rybovich Marine, a famous powerboat builder, where the Towboat captain, Brian, attached an emergency battery pack to our bilge pump to stabilize the water coming in. The bilge pump worked well and went off every 5 minutes or so, meaning it was keeping up with the leak. I later found the other hull leaking and turned on that bilge pump also. By then it was about 3:00 AM and we were all shot. I laid down on Catatonic, totally shot, and fell asleep for a few minutes on an old sailbag. Ronnie went over and found that “Bonnie” had been towed in to the same marina, and they invited us to sleep there for the rest of the night. Exhaustion allowed us to sleep after much conversation over our experience. The conclusion was that we were fine – no bumps or bruises and that was all that was important.
The Morning After tied to a Dock - Note Engine in Water

The next morning, I helped Brian tow our boat around the dock so that she could be hauled, and knowing what had happened to us, he offered his quote of the day to me – “ A friend in need is a pain in the ars”. I laughed and told him that I had thought of that but didn’t say it to anyone. The boatyard hauled Catatonic out and we all saw the damage to her hulls. Very bad as water poured out of the aft section of her. I had remembered that 13 years ago, I had put sealed Coke bottles in her buoyancy chambers in the rear of her hulls just in case she was ever holed there. Well, it happened, and along with sealed chambers above, the Coke bottles ( about 400-600 pounds of flotation in each hull) probably kept her afloat. Port Hull Damage

The final chapter of this saga has not yet been written, but the insurance surveyor and the yard’s estimators came to the same conclusion. The cost of repairing “Catatonic” would exceed her worth. She is very likely going to be “totaled” by the insurance company. We have spent the last week emptying out our personal items and accessories – clothes, safety equipment, etc. Thankfully, Ronnie’s mom lives in southern Florida and we have been able to stay with her. For fun or confusion, we twice went to look at other catamarans for sale, but they are too expensive. We tentatively have decided to somehow “expand” our trailerable trimaran, which is small inside, so that next year we can sail back to the Bahamas and enjoy the wonderful people and weather there.

Arnie and Ronnie

P.S. Terry and Margaret have decided to have “Bonnie” shipped back to England.

Junkanoo and Fair

Hi again,

This week there were two events that were “must see” or at least an excuse to go party and see all our friends – another Junkanoo in Marsh Harbor and the annual Hope Town Fire and Rescue Fair. The junkanoo in Marsh Harbour had been talked about for weeks – a big event in which different islands send their best Junkanoo teams ( for lack of a better word) – Junkanoo is sort of a national sport. All of the islands have groups that dress up and parade and dance down the streets playing drums, cowbells, whistles, horns, etc. We had been to a great one in Green Turtle as we told you about when we first arrived in the Abacos.

Well the day was rainy preceding the evening Junkanoo, and it looked doubtful for a while. The parade was due to start at 6:30 PM, but at 5 it was raining buckets. Then magically the front moved through, it stopped raining, and everyone came out of their boats and took their dinghy to a crowded dock. The clearing sky after the storm

The Junkanoo was a major deal, with all kinds of Bahamian officials giving long-winded speeches. Unfortunately, the parade was also slow, with the little kids going first and then slowly the more senior groups getting going.
Evening Junkanoo in Marsh Harbour
The associated activities – food, toys, people watching were fun, but by about 9PM we decided to retire to our favorite pub with some friends and had some drinks with Brown Tip playing rake and scrape. By the time we got back to our boats around 10:30, the Junkanoo was finally sounding like it was really kicking in. In fact it went until 2 AM, and we heard that it was pretty good at the end, with a group from Nassau blowing the crowd away. As per normal in the Bahamas, timing and scheduling mean nothing here. Next year, we will eat first and then go later.

We left the next day for Hope Town where the local Fire and Rescue Squad was holding its annual fund raiser. This time we decided to anchor outside so we could swim off the boat, since it was pretty hot. That was really nice. The fair was small but neat with lots of things up for auction. The only Pirate we ran into down here
At auction in Hope Town
We ran into most of our friends there and telling them that we were leaving soon, we spent several nights aboard boats saying our good-byes. We spent an hour or so at our favorite bar overlooking the ocean, Hope Town Lodge, and said good bye to the bartender, Gary. Ronnie's favorite frog on the steps to Hope Town Lodge

As we were pulling up our anchor the next day we were visited by 2 dolphins who literally wanted to check us out and play, because they hung around the boat for 10 minutes. It turns out they are the 2 local dolphins who live in the Hope Town waters – one’s name is “Rocky” – other one not sure. But it was a great visit as they looked us in the eye and rolled over as they went under the boat several times. A nice way to say good bye to our favorite place down here.

We are back for our last night in Marsh Harbour, where we got gas ( $5.50/gallon), but it has been the only fill-up we have had in 2 months of sailing down here. We also connected with one of our friends who has the same plan as us to go back via Green Turtle and then cross the Gulf Stream when the conditions are good. This time next week we might be crossing back to Florida. It is tough to leave a place as beautiful as this, having met a lot of really nice people who have a slightly different view on things, like us. We are definitely planning on coming back next year.

See you next week

Arnie and Ronnie

Rebecca and Abbie visit

Hi Folks,

Publishing our blog a little late this week, because we have had our daughter, Rebecca and our niece, Abbie with us enjoying this great place for just over a week. Unfortunately, the weather went downhill in the early part of their visit, but it came back in the end and they went home this AM relaxed and tanned.

We had gotten back to Hope Town last I wrote, but I neglected to tell everyone about the fabulous Key Lime pie made by Vernon, the local grocer and baker. He also serves as minister for a lot of the weddings that happen in Hope Town. It turns out that this is a wedding destination place, because it’s so beautiful. Plus he could make a living on key lime pies alone, if he chose to. The Required Trip to the Top of the Hope Town Lighthouse

We walked around, key lime pie in hand, had lunch overlooking the water at Captain Jack’s, and then went back to sleep and read through the rain and wind that were kicking in. Wednesday morning we awoke to a torrential wind-driven (clocked at 49 knots) rain, but instead of hiding, Abbie was the first to jump outside in a bathing suit to take a shower in our cockpit. We all joined in, to the somewhat astonished looks of other cruisers, moored all around us, but it was a definite highlight.

Then magically the weather improved so much that in the afternoon, we went to the Hope town Lodge on the beach and went swimming in the ocean and lounged at their pool. It got even nicer the next day, so we repeated the same scenario and went snorkeling on a reef off the beach. Visibility wasn’t up to its normal standards because of the recent storm, but it was Abbie’s first time snorkeling and the fish were smiling.

The next day we sailed up to Man O’War Cay and met up with some friends that we had not seen in a while. It was hot, so we took our dinghies out to a sand bar that was about 2 feet deep and set up a bar at the sand bar. Neat.

Saturday was the 22nd annual Man O’War flea market and fair. All of the cruisers were there. A big event with local stuff for sale. Ronnie bought a palm frond bonnet to keep on the boat, Arnie bought a big machete to open coconuts ( having struggled with a hammer and screwdriver the previous night to do that). The best thing was the bbq chicken along with beans and rice and mac and cheese, Bahamian style ( like a pudding cake). Enough food to last us 3 days of leftovers. Hermit Crab Races at Man O'War Fair

After the fair, we sailed back to Marsh Harbour – it was a Saturday night at Snappas, the local friendly pub with Brown Tip, the maniacal DJ. Loud and fun with dancing and rum. Abbie and Becca finished the evening in the heated marina pool where we were staying, dancing to music from Snappas.

Sunday was beautiful and the plan was to snorkel at Mermaid reef. We spent the entire afternoon there doing just that, with the biggest, friendliest fish we have seen down here. A local was telling us that a guy whose house overlooks the reef will shoot anyone he sees trying to catch or spear a fish there. That’s why the fish are so friendly – all they know is that people feed them. That evening we skyped a conference call with our son Ben and Dennis, Abbie’s dad who had just been down here recently, and had a great time chatting. Skyping, for the uninitiated is a computer to computer (or phone) way of calling. If everyone joins, skyping each other is free, otherwise it’s 2 cents per minute to call someone – not bad. A whole lot better than our satphone, which has been really disappointing. We can never get on, because of lack of satellites. We just heard that there is a class action suit starting claiming consumer fraud against Globalstar. For those of you considering buying one, I would have to recommend against it. Abbie and Ronnie Blowing a Conch Horn Duet at Sunset


As I said in the beginning, the girls left early this morning, and we had a great time with them visiting. We already miss them. Ronnie and I cleaned up the boat a bit, got needed food and propane ( for our refrigerator) and are now pondering, with all our friends coming to visit us in the winter, whether we will need a bigger boat!

Talk with you next week.

Arnie and Ronnie

Marsh Harbour week

Hi Folks,

Another beautiful week in the Abacos, although the weather has changed as of last night – we are going to have 3 cold fronts moving through this week, bringing some rain and wind. We can’t complain – it’s been perfect here for 2 weeks. Unfortunately the weather changed just as Rebecca and Abbie arrived to visit, but we are hoping to get some diving in anyway. Both of them are just happy to be in a warm relatively dry place. First night was at Snappas for an abbreviated introduction to Brown Tip and rake and scrape music. Then off to an early bedtime.

Aside from meeting more people – got invited to dinner by a couple who is living aboard a 60 foot ketch – big old fashioned boat with lots of space and amenities. Spent some time at a slip, where we met even more people – ran into a trivia contest and bbq – all people who have been here before and keep on coming back.

Another evening was spent on a “how to make a conch horn” arts and crafts demo. We all brought conchs and some brought dremel tools and other implements of destruction, just so at sunset we can blow our conch horns – a Bahamian tradition. Neat.

On the subject of conch, the local delicacy here is conch salad – fresh conch diced along with peppers, tomatoes, onions, lime and orange juice along with a special secret hot sauce. George, the local conch salad king has been doing this at dockside for as long as people can remember and of course he won’t tell you where his conch beds are or what’s in his secret hot sauce, but he’s a nice guy and fun to chat with.

While we were waiting for a conch salad to be made and talking with George, a waterspout appeared. A big one. Not so rare here, but I had never actually seen one before. Here is a good picture of it about a mile away.

Another night there was a jam session with musicians getting together to play ( for the first time) with an actual audience. Well the music was a bit lame due to the crowd wanting a sing-a-long, but Arnie had fun playing drums on a garbage can and then playing some guitar, too. We vowed to get together and play again without the audience.

Finally the four of us were walking through Hope town again, having sailed here on Monday to show the our visiting girls this pretty little place before the weather really got windy, and we came across a curly tail lizard. They are small and quick and
unique to these islands we think.

See you next week!
Arnie and Ronnie

Dennis' visit

Hi again,

We just finished a busier than normal week, spent showing Dennis, Ronnie’s brother, our favorite sights around the Sea of Abaco. Busy, but a lot of fun, including celebrating my birthday with multiple parties. We found Dennis waiting for us at a bar called Snappas, a friendly place by the harbor. His flight actually took off early (Bahamas Air), because everyone was aboard 15 minutes before the scheduled departure time!


Ronnie and I had had a relatively busy morning, refilling propane tanks, and doing laundry. But we slowed down for a bit, then brought Dennis’s gear aboard. The anchor light had been acting up, so I climbed the mast and removed the light. After somewhat major surgery on the deck, and allowing the epoxy to cure, it was successfully replaced with all parts working the next day. Dennis took pictures of our normal daily activities like launching the outboard onto the dinghy with our lifting davit and unfolding our folding bikes.


Then we took off for Great Guana Cay for some snorkeling and a pot luck party amongst the cruisers the following night. The water is really clear and littered with starfish as we approach the island.
Guana was again beautiful and the snorkeling was great. There is a bar called Nippers on the ocean side where you can go snorkeling off the beach. Great birthday!



Then it was off to the other side of the island where the pot luck party proved a success. About 150 cruisers and “Dirt People” as the house dwellers are called got together and all brought food for everyone to share. Grabbers, another beach bar on the bay side supplied the drinks and atmosphere. After eating, someone brought out instruments, and I played drums for a couple of hours – good times.


Then it was on to Hope Town, our growing favorite spot – beautiful little cottages everywhere, with a beautiful beach and a nice little harbor. If there is a place that anyone wants to go rent a cottage in the Bahamas for a week or month, this is the place. We climbed the lighthouse and got one of Vernon’s (baker) world famous key lime pies. Dennis was made several offers for it on the way back to the boat.

The last full day, Friday, of Dennis’ visit, we headed back to Marsh Harbour to go snorkeling at Mermaid reef, the local small reef with incredibly well-fed and therefore friendly fish, We broke out the bikes and rode around for a bit and ended up at another party of friends we had met back in Green Turtle Cay. It turns out one of their birthdays is only 2 days different from mine, so we had a combined birthday bash. Right after that we ran into Brown Tip and crew with a Rake and Scrape performance at the local pub. Loud and intense.

We are now recovering from the week, listening to Brown Tip with rake and scrape (scraping the teeth of a saw with a butterknife) again playing at Snappas across the water until late. Next weekend, Rebecca and Abbie, our daughter and niece are coming down for 10 days – it’s going to be great.

See you next week,

Arnie and Ronnie

Deja Vu

Hi Folks,

It’s déjà vu all over again. We are back in Marsh Harbour at anchor after another 3 nights in Hope Town. We spent a few nights in a slip at the Conch Inn, right next to where there is a large number of Moorings charter boats – mostly large catamarans that accommodate up to 8 people for a week.

We met a bunch from CT who had chartered for this week, but were met with 3 days of wet and windy conditions that kept them on the dock ( us too) for a few days. Nice place – easy to get lazy here and we stayed an extra night.

Last Sunday we had a mini Patriots party aboard a friend’s boat, who decided to get a slip for the next 3 months. Slightly afraid of maneuvering their new 49’ boat through the small inlets and thin water around, but they have the whole setup with cable TV, AC, etc. We will probably go back for another party next week – simultaneous birthdays and the Superbowl.

After that we set out for Hope Town again, hoping to get some snorkeling in off the beach. Along the way the biggest news of the week – we caught a fish! The first one ever caught from Catatonic! It was a bit small though – about a 9” snapper we think, so we let him go – but were very proud to have caught something. We made it safely to Hope Town and went snorkeling as planned. Really nice reef – not too many fish and visibility was down because of the previous blow, but really easy to do.

`
Typical Street in Hope Town




We went back the next day, after meeting a couple on another Gemini Catamaran who I had e-mailed months ago, about possibly meeting in the Abacos. Well we accidentally met them. Nice folks. They introduced us to the concept of buying a soft drink from the nice bar at the beach, spiking it with your own rum, and using their pool and facilities as needed for the day, while snorkeling again at a beach – better visibility and more fish to see.

We had an impromptu party aboard our boat after that along with another couple who had transited the Gulfstream with the Gemini – from Ohio – out for a year before they can’t do it at all. Everyone has some kind of story to tell. We also met up with our young friend, Doug, in his 27 footer with a visitor aboard for the week – Molly, an old college friend – an adventurer in her own right, having traveled to Fiji and Ghana.

We headed back a day early because of a predicted Norther today, which in fact is here – it just rained a bunch, and the winds are predicted to come in behind up to near gale force. It seems that this is the weather in the Winter down here – beautiful when it’s nice and then it blows like stink for a few days with some rain.
Calm before the storm in Marsh Harbour

But we are not complaining. Laundry and propane refills tomorrow along with organizing the boat for an additional crew member, Ronnie’s brother, Dennis for the week.

More next week,
Arnie and Ronnie

Lighthouse Chronicles

Hi All,

We are back in Marsh Harbour again after spending most of the week in Hope Town and briefly in Man O’War Cay. We came back because of a strong cold front that just hit here about 7 AM. Predicted gale force winds and rain for 2-3 days, but so far it hasn’t been too bad. Plus we tied up to a dock for the night at a marina with Showers!
Catatonic in Hope Town Harbor

As I said we spent most of the week in Hope Town on Elbow Cay, about 7 miles from Marsh Harbour. Hope Town, an old loyalist settlement ( escapees from the American Revolution) is probably the most scenic island we have been to yet. The little cottages are really done up nicely, and the lighthouse there, built in 1864, is still operating, fired by kerosene with Fresnel lenses to project the light. We walked up the 101 steps inside to the top and stepped through a really heavy steel door out onto the parapet. They would never let you do this in the States, but the views were spectacular.

Inside the Fresnel Lens



We went ashore to find several artists painting the lighthouse and other neat scenes on the island. Of course, Ronnie fell into conversation with them, and found out that there had just been a large class of tourists that had been there last week, just to take art classes and paint. The resident artist is an ex-marine who has been painting his whole life and is very good. He and his wife come back every year to rent a cottage, give lessons, and just relax. Great place.
Going up the 101 steps inside

Ronnie did another painting while on the boat this time of the lighthouse and the surrounding harbor. She had a great time while I puttered and read.

One morning we rode our bikes about 2 miles to a little shack called “On Da Beach” where we had lunch – hamburgers. Great spot, overlooking the Atlantic, although it was blowing so hard that they had windscreens up, so your food didn’t blow away.

Finally after 4 days at Hope Town, we decided that with the wind and seas dropping, we would try diving at a recommended dive spot. The trick was that it wasn’t marked, and we had to be careful bringing the boat in not too close to the reef. We managed to bring it in to about 5 feet of water and anchor. Then we launched the dinghy – manhandling the 65 pound outboard onto the transom in bouncy seas. We motored the dinghy about 1/4 mile to where we thought the diving looked good. Long story made short, we found only a small school of blue parrot fish ( not good for eating). I was armed with a spear but the currents were pushing us out to sea, so we swam back to the dinghy, and with some difficulty and a total lack of grace, got ourselves back in. We have been trying to catch fish for dinner, either by normal fishing or spearing and are batting zero so far.

Anyway, it’s now pretty windy outside, but we intend to get ourselves over to a friend's boat about a mile away where we are going to watch the Patriots play the Chargers. We have had some success using ichat to talk to our kids over the computer (an application on Macs), but I have heard about Skype, a similar application that might allow us to call anyone from our internet accessed computer. More on that probably next week. The technology is really amazing and it keeps on coming!

That’s about all for now. Look for us next week when we will have Ronnie’s brother, Dennis, visiting for about 5 days.

Arnie and Ronnie

Marsh Harbour

Hi all,

We are anchored in Marsh Harbour, Abacos, the second largest town in the Bahamas, although it’s not very big – one traffic light. As you can see, the Bahamians have a good sense of humor, mon.

We got here sailing from Great Guana Cay about 5 days ago – beautiful sail of only about 7 miles in 15 knots of wind and sunny skies with flat water. There are about 50-100 cruisers anchored in the harbor along with us. Every morning at 8:15 there is an informal but organized “cruiser’s net” on our VHF radio, where for about 45 minutes, everything of interest is discussed – weather, passages through ocean inlets, news, sports, local advertisements for restaurants, dive shops, etc. Then there is an open microphone section where people ask for information, help, or offer invites to parties. Saturday morning I asked where I could watch the Patriots play on a TV without a loud band playing. I found a place.

Life here is really pretty easy – the stores have most everything we need, so provisioning, while expensive is there as needed. Cruising has been described as fixing your boat in exotic places. It turns out that is pretty true. And if you are not fixing your own boat, you often are helping someone else. This AM I helped someone climb his rig to take off a spreader plate that was cracked and needs welding. Yesterday, I consulted with someone putting up a wind generator before going transatlantic on virtually the same boat as we have. We think he’s nuts, but it is his choice.

I’ve been asked what do we do? Twice we have gone snorkeling off a reef just outside of the harbor. The fish are so used to seeing snorkelers that they are downright friendly. We brought a bag of bread and stuff and fed them. They swarmed around us to get a meal and then followed us for the next hour while we took in the sights – lobsters, lots of colorful fish – really nice. Sorry, no pictures of that yet – need to get home and get them developed the old way.

We spent a few days looking for a part ( a foot pump for our water system that leaks) at all the possible marine supply places. We took our bikes to the other side of the island, but no luck with the part. Got to see the island and got caught in a storm with a beautiful rainbow – actually it’s coming out of Ronnie’s head, as you can see.


Ronnie has done 2 paintings so far and a few sketches. She did one this AM on the beach where we were snorkeling – got to justify bringing her art supplies along, and she’s having a great time painting.


A few days ago we found the office of the local internet provider who offers Hot Spots for WiFi and signed up for the duration. We were so happy to be getting reliable wifi on the boat that both of us spent some serious communication time with e-mails.

Lots of nightlife in Marsh Harbour. The other night there was an impromptu party at a local bar called Snappa’s where a local entertainer named “Brown Tip” was sort of a DJ/singer/drummer along with his cousin who scraped a saw (tooth side up) with a stick to the music and danced incredibly. Together with Brown Tip’s grandson, age 4, dancing pretty well, they played 120 decibel music and got everyone jumping to the beat. The music was not great, but the intensity was on the ceiling and really pretty neat. Unfortunately, everytime Brown Tip plays somewhere in Marsh Harbour, you can hear him all over the harbor. Luckily things get quiet about midnight most nights so we can get to sleep.

We have anchored on the other side of the harbor for the night, because we are expecting a cold front to come through and blow for a day out of the northwest. This new anchorage should be more protected from the wind and waves. We’ll be doing a lot of reading tomorrow. After the storm clears out, we think we will head out to see some other islands.

More later,

Arnie and Ronnie

Green Turtle to Guana Cay

HI Again,

Writing to you from Great Guana Cay, just a short boat ride south from Green Turtle Cay, where we were holed up for almost a week, waiting for the weather to get back to normal. It blew and blew with some rain – almost afraid to say it, but it actually got cool – 60 degrees and 30 mph winds for longer than seemed possible. But we had some good company in the other boaters who were also at the marina. We checked out the town, the local “Sundowners” Bar and got involved with some very friendly people –had a limbo contest at the local pub, where the resident limbo expert got down to less than 2 feet!

It finally stopped blowing so hard – we had to wait for the seas to calm down at Whale Cay passage that we either had to go through on the outside where the inlet meets the Atlantic or go through very shallow areas on the inside. Either way, the seas had to calm down. Going on the outside was possibly lethal 10 foot breakers, and the shoal area inside would also have waves and we would hit bottom as we went through the troughs of the waves. Neither was possible. So, yesterday, with the seas calmed and the wind temporarily blown out, we motored down through the shoal pass on the inside called Dont Rock Passage ( spelled this way). We had met a 26 year old guy, Doug, in Green Turtle headed the same way, and his crew had to leave, so he was singlehanding for the first time. We had the better charting, so we led the way at half tide through the pass, nearly bottoming ourselves at 3 feet – Doug scraped bottom once.

But we made it to Nippers on Guana for the weekly Pig Roast. Met up with another cruiser, Fred, we had met at Green Turtle. We were expecting a full pig on a spit, but were slightly disappointed to find a decent barbeque and a loud music-driven bunch of boaters, locals, and others – not sure how they got there. Macaroni and cheese with the consistency of a noodle pudding is considered the vegetable down here. Here is a picture of Ronnie and me at Nippers.


After the roast, we wandered around and found the competition – Grabbers – a sports bar with slight quieter music and a more comfortable feel to it. Also accessible by dinghy, since it is on Sunset Beach. A game of Bocci was being played to much fanfare. We all decided to learn how to play and go the next day and challenging the champs. Sunset Beach deserves its name – a picture of Fred’s boat moored at Guana Cay.


Well we got back the today and everything was closed on Mondays. Luckily we found the owner and she lent us the Bocci balls for the day, so Ronnie and I played Doug and Fred in a hotly contested match of Bocci – none of us had played before, but we won handily and retired to the hammocks on the beach as our reward. Tough day.


We plan on heading south to Marsh Harbour tomorrow. It’s been described as urban – it’s got one stoplight – and we may miss the isolation of the islands we have been on, but we will report next week on what we find.

Good weather has returned and we are happy. Hope everyone is enjoying this Blog. We plan on finding a sports bar next weekend to watch the Patriots.

Go Pats!

Arnie and Ronnie

Crossing to the Bahamas

Catatonic on her way to the water

Hi All,

It’s January 1, 2008 – always amazing writing that new year the first time. We expected to be in Miami, but plans kept on changing and so we ended up in the Bahamas for New Years! Lots of exciting things happened along the way.

First we launched the day after Christmas because of all the extra work needed on the boat – the mechanic finally finished rebuilding the carburetors on our engine ( 25 HP Honda), and it’s been running great. Our son Ben and his girlfriend, Dawn, joined us for the first 2 days going down through the Lock on the canal to Stuart and then to Lake Worth in West Palm Beach.
Ben forward in the St. Lucie Lock
They decided that they would rather have a party at Dawn’s house in Fort Lauderdale for New Year’s Eve than be in Miami. Simultaneously, we saw a good weather window beginning to open, so with the help of Ronnie’s Mom, we transferred our crew to shore and bought some last minute necessities and went to anchor where cruisers wait to cross in Lake Worth.

Our original plans had been to go to the closest spot in the Bahamas, which is about 55 miles (West End), but all of the cruisers who were about to leave told us to avoid West End and instead go 45 miles further to an uninhabited island to anchor. Since they all said the same thing, and we would have an additional 4 hours of sleep ( original plan was to leave midnight – now changed to 4 AM), we decided to go for it. At worst, we knew that once on the Bahamas Banks, we could anchor anywhere, since it is shallow everywhere ( 12-15 feet).

We ended up leaving about 4:30 AM on Saturday morning with 2 other boats – one in front and one behind us. The seas were a little rough for the first few miles, but as we got off the Continental shelf, they calmed down so that we were bucking a 10 knot wind and about 2-4 foot waves. Bumpy, but acceptable. We motored all the way for about 10 hours until we hit the Bahamas banks, where the sun was shining and the wind clocked a bit and we were able to actually sail for about an hour. Flying fish were everywhere – we had seen them before, but they are really amazing. They fly LONG distances – hundreds of yards.

The last 4 hours we ran behind one of the boats in total darkness, watching his lights all the way. The stars were all the way to the horizon. It was totally surreal. We were also following our GPS which blinded the helmsperson from everything but it and the boat in front of us, about 1 mile away. We made it to the island about 10:30 PM – a total of 100 miles in 18 hours – Long day, but we were happy to be there, along with about 6 other boats who had also anchored there for the night.

The weather is beautiful now and has been for the past 2 weeks – 75-80 degrees and sunny. We pushed on for the next 2 days, waking up early and traveling first to an anchorage at Crab Cay, planning on clearing Customs the next morning and getting much needed gas at Spanish Cay. Spanish Cay is a quiet piece of private island paradise, but very expensive gas ( $5.65/gal), and the Customs people were not there until later, so we left and went to Green Turtle Cay, where we are now. A total of about 175 miles from Lake Worth.

A storm is coming in tonight with gale force winds predicted, so everyone is heading in to a safe port. We ended up at a small marina, tied to a dock. Nice people, showers, laundry and a short bike ride to an incredible pastel colored town.

Ronnie on Catatonic in Black Sound, Green Turtle Cay

We ended up today at the annual Junkanoo parade in celebration of the New Year and to rid the island of bad spirits. It was incredible – music,, costumes, dancing in the streets for the entire parade of about 2 hours all over the island. Looking forward to fireworks tonight.

New Year's Day Junkanoo Parade

We will check in with you again when we get the opportunity – probably next week, although getting on the internet has been a bit challenging, as has been getting on our satellite phone – when it works it’s great, but it often doesn’t work! Well we are still happy to have any communications.


A Happy and Healthy New Year to all!

Arnie and Ronnie