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.

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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