march 1 2004 : george town, great exuma island, bahamas
Well after our second night anchored next to town we had enough. The wind was still blowing 25 knots and we had some huge waves rolling through all night long. We managed 3 or 4 hours of sleep and then as soon as the sun came up we went searching for something calmer. We motored over to Hamburger Beach on Stocking Island which is about a mile across the harbor from town. We pulled in close to the beach in front of everyone else and finally got some rest. The weather is supposed to stay just like this through the 3rd. The only real problem with it is that it makes for a very wet dinghy ride over to town from here. Luckily there are a couple of nice little beach bar restaurants over here. The Chat ‘n’ Chill is our favorite and has the best burgers and fish sandwiches we have had in the Bahamas.

Today we braved the dinghy ride into town because we realized that we made a big mistake with immigration. We were originally given 90 days to be in the country even though you can be here for six months. The immigration officer in Bimini told us to just check in somewhere along the way before our 90 days was up. So we made a note of that in our calendar program on the computer. Unfortunately that was the computer that broke down. All of the sudden this weekend I thought about it and we got out the paperwork and realized we were a week overdue. Today we went into the immigration office. We got there, and what do I do? I open the door and walk right in. The room was barely big enough for a desk, and the immigration officer looked up at me and said, “You don’t knock?” Oops, that wasn’t a good start. The office was in a large government building and so I assumed that it would be a good sized office with a receptionist. She told us to sit outside and she would call us in. So we waited a few minutes and she called us in.

We told her we were looking for an extension and she asked to see our paperwork. After about two seconds she realized that we were a week overdue. She didn’t seem too happy, but gave us the paperwork to fill out and then informed us that the extension officer would be in on Wednesday morning. She made it pretty clear that we are to be waiting outside the office at nine o’clock sharp. So now we are just hoping that they go easy on us and let us stay in the country another six weeks. Otherwise, I’m not sure what we will have to do. We certainly cannot head over to Haiti!

Yesterday while we were at the Chat ‘n’ Chill we met a guy who told us the story about the huge boat that is anchored next to us. See the picture below. Anyway, this boat is owned by some rich guy who bought it from the Canadian government. The boat is 250′ long and was used in the North Atlantic and was built to be able to smash through broken ice. This guy converted it for his personal use and even had a retractable swimming pool installed. The guy we were talking to is friends with some of the crew onboard, so he has been on it. Well it turns out it is for sale. Yes, $35 million dollars will get you the whole thing. Ali and I placed a call in to our bank to get our balance and found that we were a little short at this time. I guess we’ll stick with Bumfuzzle. Tonight we are heading into town to check out Eddie’s Edgewater for some Rake ‘n’ Scrape music with the locals.

march 2 2004 : george town
Last night we went into town to Eddie’s Edgewater. We had met Grant at the Chat ‘n’ Chill the other day and he told us to meet him there. So we hung out all night in this little bar and listened to the band play some really good music using a big plastic drum, a saw, and a few other miscellaneous items. Grant introduced us to a friend of his who works on the big boat Bart Roberts and we somehow managed to get an invite to a party onboard her tonight. It should be a good time.

Grant also invited us out on his boat today. He has a 70′ catamaran that he does tours for The Four Seasons Resort with. It’s a beautiful huge boat, but today’s trip was cancelled because of the continuing crappy weather. The wind is still blowing 25 knots and now it isn’t supposed to let up until Saturday. Grant’s another one of those really great South Africans that we keep managing to find. He has been trying to talk his wife into sailing around the world and so he is taking us out to dinner this weekend when she gets into town from St. Thomas. He says it is our job to get her to say yes.

march 3 2004 : george town
Just a quick note to tell you about our Bart Roberts experience. The night started out with a huge speedboat picking us up right at our boat. Then we cruised around and picked up a few more people. When we got to the 265′ Bart Roberts we found a television crew filming us. It seems a French television show whose name I can’t remember was doing a half hour show about the boat. This was the reason for the cocktail party in the first place. The crew was really nice, but it was a little awkward when they would interrupt your conversation to ask you to move over a few steps. After a while it was no big deal though. Ali and I even gave them one of those kitschy shots of us kissing in front of the sunset.

The boat was amazing. Bart Roberts was a pirate, and so the whole theme of the boat was pirates. There were these great paintings of pirates all over the boat. Each of the bedrooms was also named after a pirate and would have a painting and a biography of the pirate in it. So we got the tour of the whole boat. The engine room was huge. It just went on and on. It had a tool room in it with drill presses and every conceivable tool you could ever need. There was a fully equipped gym, a spa, a media room, a brick floor and stone fireplace, you name it. Anyway, we had a blast getting to see a boat like this. And on top of everything else we got to be on television. How cool a night is that?

We just got done with the immigration people. We made sure we were waiting outside the office ten minutes early. When the lady from the other day showed up she looked at us and said, “You are a day late aren’t you?” We told her that we were sure she said Wednesday. She just looked down her nose at us and went into the office. Awhile later another lady, the immigration extension officer I guess, called us in and gave us a little scolding before granting us a 45 day extension. The whole thing was kind of funny. It felt just like when I was a little kid at school and would get sent down to the principal’s office. All that nervous apprehension.

march 4 2004 : george town
Yesterday we were hanging out on Bum when the film crew from the Bart came by in their dinghy. They wanted to do an interview getting the general opinion of other cruiser’s who were anchored near the Bart Roberts. I may have been a little biased but of course explained that I had no problem with it. I mean, what’s the difference if a boat is 35′ or 265′?

Last night we went back over to the Chat ‘n’ Chill where we planned on having a quick dinner and a couple beers. Well, we ended up meeting a nice couple who is anchored right near us and they invited us over for a few more beers. We’ve decided that we can’t handle more than a couple weeks of this kind of cruising.

Today, we headed back into town for the first of a number of trips to do laundry. We did three loads today and have probably six to go. We hadn’t done any laundry at all since Nassau about two months ago. Then this afternoon we hiked up to the monument on the top of the hill in front of us. It was a good place to get some pictures of the anchorage and all the boats.

march 9 2004 : george town
Wow, have we been busy these last few days. It’s time to get caught up on the logs. Let’s see, last Friday, Ali and I were finally going to relax on the boat all day. We cleaned the boat, which includes Ali cleaning the inside, while I get the outside. My job essentially is to get all the rust off the boat. It is crazy how much rust accumulates in just a week or two. It’s a job you have to stay on top of all the time. We use Nevr-Dull which takes the rust right off, but I’m curious if anyone has any tips on something better, or some way to help prevent it all together. So we got the boat cleaned up when all of a sudden a party broke out onboard.

First Nick, from the film crew stopped by to hang out. Awhile later, another boat pulls up. This time it’s Grant, his wife Susan, Billy, and Raquel. Billy runs the Thunderball boat tours; the Thunderball is that big yellow boat that picked us up the other night. Raquel is a teacher; she home schools one of the families who live over on Stocking Island (by the Chat ‘n’ Chill). The family has a houseboat that she gets to live in. So my point in telling you all this is to show how much fun we have been having by meeting some of the locals and other non cruisers. We’ve been feeling sort of like the odd man out whenever we get around a group of cruisers. The age difference seems to be a bigger deal than we would have originally thought.

That night we all went out to the Two Turtles. A bar with a live band. One thing about George Town is that each bar has it’s own night that it has something going on. So basically, the locals go out just about every night of the week to somewhere different, then the next week they repeat the same process.

The next morning we moved the boat back to where we were the first night we were in George Town, right in front of the Peace and Plenty Hotel. About a half an hour later I heard yelling from on shore. I knew without even looking that Ali’s parents were here. They had one of those flights from hell where they left on Friday afternoon, spent six hours in the Miami airport in the middle of the night, before finally arriving in George Town at eight Saturday morning. So with their sleep schedule screwed up, we all started drinking Kaliks at 8 am. We couldn’t let them drink alone, it would have been rude.

We hung out by the pool, had more beer and then breakfast while they waited for their room to be ready. That morning I had been singing It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas to Ali, and it was. Her parents had brought four suitcases along. Two were for us, two for them. Except that we also had some more stuff in theirs. That afternoon it was exciting for us to rip them open. They brought us our long lost backup computer with new battery and power supply, a huge pile of magazines, about a dozen books, and even some Girl Scout cookies. Not to mention all the pictures and drawings and other things from our niece and nephew, Lea and Curt.

For dinner we went to a little local hole in the wall pizza place. A large pizza was $30; and the place was full of locals. I don’t know how they can afford to eat there. After amazing everyone with my ability to eat at least three times more pizza than a normal human being we went back to the hotel and called it a night.

The next day we went to the beach. The beach is great on the Atlantic side of Stocking Island. It goes for miles and there is virtually nobody else on it. I took Al snorkeling, and between gulps of seawater he managed to enjoy it. There was some pretty big coral heads out there and we saw a few huge barracuda. They are really curious fish, and you can’t scare them away. So after I would swim by them they would circle around behind Al and follow him along. His head was on a swivel trying to keep an eye on them to make sure they didn’t mistake him for a meal.

That afternoon we went to the Chat ‘n’ Chill for a few more drinks and some dinner. Then back to the hotel for an early night. Ali and I met up with Grant and Susan for a couple drinks before she had to head back to St. Thomas.

Yesterday we had a beautiful day. We loaded up Bum and went for a little sail to an area a few miles north. We anchored for the afternoon and did some more snorkeling. I was going to show Al how to spear some fish, but of course I couldn’t find anything worth spearing. So just a casual day hanging out on the boat and showing Ali’s parents what life is all about for us out here.

Last night Ali and I went to Eddie’s Edgewater for the Rake ‘n’ Scrape. We met everyone up there and had a great night hanging out.

march 11 2004 : george town
Tuesday we decided to rent a car and drive around the island. We had breakfast and then before heading over to the car rental office Al and Susy went to the front desk to get beach towels. They were told it would be 45 minutes. So we figured we’d pick them up after we got the car. We went to get the car, and were told the car wouldn’t be available for another hour. We walked back to the hotel bar to have a drink. When we got there we found out the bartender would be back in 15 minutes. A half hour later he showed up. After a drink we went to grab the towels. No towels. It would be a little while. Fine, we can do without towels. So we wander over to pick up the car. We walk up to the office and find a note that she has gone to lunch and will be back shortly. 45 minutes later she shows up. By now it is almost 1 o’clock. We started all this at around 10:30. So we told her we would skip it today and come back tomorrow morning. Eventually, we went back to the hotel pool and hung out there all day instead. I guess we should have known better. Things definitely move a lot slower in the islands.

So yesterday we rented the car and drove around the island. The car had the drivers seat on the opposite side of U.S.cars, which was kind of fun. They also drive on the left side here. Add that to the fact that I hadn’t driven a car in five months or so, and it all adds up to a dangerous situation. Actually though, it wasn’t too bad. After an initial adjustment period in which I kept driving the left side of the car off the road and onto the rough shoulder I got pretty good at it. And not once all day did we find ourselves driving down the wrong side of the road.

We got back to the hotel around three and found that the wind was howling and we needed to get the boat moved before dark. So Ali and I took off and went back to where we were anchored all last week. Then took the dinghy back to the hotel for dinner.

march 13 2004 : george town
Al and Susy should be sitting on a plane right now heading back to the beautiful weather of Minnesota. We had a great time and even completed our first circumnavigation together. We circled the entire islands of Great Exuma and Little Exuma by car and moped.

Yesterday we rented scooters and took off to see south of George Town down to the end of Little Exuma Island. Our first stop was off the road at an abandoned hotel that had a great little beach behind it. We both gunned the engines to see how far we could drive in the soft sand and that’s when Al crashed. Luckily it was in soft sand and actually looked pretty hilarious with Susy laying on top of Al who was buried in the sand. Susy did bend her fingernail a little bit but we were able to bypass a visit to the ER. Al and I went swimming in the waves for a while and then we headed down the road to La Shante’s, a nice little restaurant on the beach.

Next stop was down the road at one of the salt markers. I guess the story behind these monuments is that they were erected so that passing ships would know that there was salt available there from dried up salt ponds. This was a pretty steep hill with just a small dirt trail leading up it. So of course Al and I had to see if our little 80cc scooters could make it up. They did. Those things were surprisingly powerful.

We bounced around down the road a little farther and somehow I managed to flood my scooter while driving it around in some shallow water. I was simply trying to wash it off. After letting it dry out in the sun for a few minutes we had it running again. We made a couple more stops on the way back to the hotel before we made a dinner out of the free cocktail hour hors d’oeuvres.

Today we spent just hanging out around the hotel and did a little shopping to get their grandkids some gifts. Then they were off to the airport. Ali and I are now back on the boat just laying around. It feels like we have been on the go for the entire two weeks we have been here in George Town. That’s been a good thing since we have had a lot of fun in those two weeks. But now we are starting to get anxious to get back out there sailing and getting lost in our own quiet anchorage again.

We have a few chores to finish up before we leave here though. We’ve still got a bunch more laundry to do, as well as some more grocery shopping. Then we will top off the diesel and should be getting underway by the middle of the week, weather permitting. We also have to decide which way we are going to go. We can either go to Long Island or to Rum Cay. Both have their pros and cons, so I guess it will come down to the weather forecast.

march 15 2004 : george town
Yesterday we had winds of 20-25 knots which kept us on the boat all day. It actually felt pretty good to just lay around all day and get a few minor things done around the boat.

march 16 2004 : george town
We’re finally getting prepared to get out of here. We can’t believe that we’ve been here nearly three weeks. We have had a great time in George Town but are definitely ready to get out of the hustle and bustle. Six months ago we lived in Chicago, and now we consider this hustle and bustle.

Today was spent running into town. We made the mistake of assuming that we would be stopping at the cash machine so we only brought about $60 with us. Of course, when we got to the bank we found out all the phone lines seemed to be down. No ATMs and no credit card machines were working. So we had enough money to fill up the diesel jugs and then I had to make a trip back to the boat for more money so we could get some groceries. Prices here are the best we have seen in the Bahamas. Selection is the only problem. But we were able to get what we needed.

march 18 2004 : george town
Well here goes. My first public apology to my wife. I’m sorry Ali. Today I committed the ultimate rookie sailor mistake and it almost cost us our boat. It started last night with a crappy night of sleep due to a wind shift right after we went to bed. The waves made the boat really loud and uncomfortable. So right out of the chute this morning we were tired. We upped anchor bright and early with the wind direction way off from where it was supposed to have been according to the previous morning’s forecast. It was blowing about fifteen knots in the harbor and I figured it wouldn’t be that bad, although I knew our chances of doing much sailing weren’t looking good.

The wind direction was about thirty degrees off the bow, which is right at our limit as far as putting up a sail, so we just fired up the engines and motored out. An hour later we were breaking out of the harbor into the open ocean. Here the wind was howling at close to twenty-five knots.

This is the point for which I owe Ali an apology. She asked me if I thought it was still worth going today, or if we should just turn around and anchor at a nearby spot. I told her to make a decision, even though I knew full well that she wanted to stop and anchor. When she didn’t. I said, “Fine, we’ll turn around.” Knowing, of course, by the tone I used that she wouldn’t let me turn around. For some reason I was determined to get out of George Town today.

Conditions didn’t seem that bad at first. We were able to put up the jib and motorsail close to the wind. There was even another catamaran behind us doing the same thing. We continued on in these conditions for ten miles, and now needed to turn east for a two hour stretch through some coral heads. The problem was that it would be dead on to the wind. By now the waves were about eight feet. We turned east, pounding into the waves for a couple of miles before the trouble started.

First our port engine overheated, bringing flashbacks of the last time that happened, which was in the Gulf Stream under very similar circumstances. Then, with only the starboard engine trying to run us through these big waves, it too overheated and shut down. We decided since the water was only ten feet deep to just drop the anchor. This kept us pointed into the waves and stopped us from losing valuable miles floating backwards while I worked on getting the engines going again.

While I anchored, Ali went below and started clearing out the engine rooms, but not before first pointing out that the two fishing lines we had been trolling had floated underneath the boat. I tried pulling them in, but couldn’t get them loose and was afraid they would get all tangled up in the props. I dove in the water with the boat slamming up and down in the waves, and sure enough both lines were wrapped in the prop. With the waves flowing under the boat that fast, the prop had kept spinning slowly even though it was in neutral, and both lines were twisting themselves around and around. I dove under once to try to untangle them but knew right away I had no chance, I was afraid the boat would lift up and slam down on top of me. Ali handed me the dive knife and I dove under one more time to cut the lines free. That’s one problem taken care of.

When we checked the engines we found the port engine was completely out of coolant. My first thought was that the raw water pump’s impeller was shot, but there was virtually no way to replace that at the time. The engine was too hot and we were rocking too much. The other engine seemed fine, just hot. I topped off the coolant and made the decision to turn around and tuck into an anchorage that was shown on the charts just two miles behind us.

We quickly made our way back and turned into the anchorage. Unfortunately the anchorage wasn’t all that well protected from the rough conditions. In fact it wasn’t anything more than a few large boulders enclosing a long narrow bay, and not doing much to knock down the worst of the weather. However, with our choices severely limited we decided to give it a try.

It was nearly a half mile motor from the entrance of the bay to the anchorage area, and we made our way through as slowly and carefully as we could. Beeeeep! Suddenly the port engine overheated and shut down again, leaving us in a precarious position, surrounded by rocks and rough seas with just one unreliable engine. It seemed like things were looking up as we somehow managed to get to the anchorage area and drop anchor. As soon as we did, I jumped in the water to make sure the anchor set; I just about started crying when I saw the ocean floor. It was solid rock. For the first time in the Bahamas there was no sand at all, just a few scattered, very small coral heads. I was desperately trying to get the anchor jammed up against some coral as the boat drifted quickly backwards. Meanwhile, Ali was frantically dropping more chain in an effort to buy me a few more seconds to find a spot for the anchor to dig in. It seemed futile as I was dragged along underwater.

Finally, with the boat a mere thirty yards from the rocks we got it stopped. Though it was very precarious. The anchor was just laying on its side jammed up against a small piece of coral. I got back on the boat and refilled the coolant, while Ali kept watch to make sure we weren’t moving. We got the engine going and pulled forward again. Not sure what else to do, and wanting nothing more than to get the boat anchored, we dropped the anchor and tried again. I jumped in and kept searching for anything to stick the anchor into, but this time I couldn’t find anything at all. We knew we were in about the worst possible position we could be in at this point.

There was no choice but to get back out into open water. Out there we could raise the sails and not rely on our overheating engines to keep us out of danger. Somehow we managed to inch our way back out of the “anchorage” without overheating an engine, and at last we were back out into the relative safety of the large breaking seas. At this point, there was no place to anchor to the south, we couldn’t go east because that’s where the wind and waves were, and we couldn’t go west because it was all islands and rocks. That only left the direction we had come from. The only choice was to go back to George Town with our tails between our legs. The bright side was that we were able to shut off the engines and sail in that direction.

Three hours later we limped back into George Town. We had spent nine hours getting our asses kicked and nearly destroyed our boat, all so we could return to where we had been anchored that morning. Ali had of course been upset, but the minute the anchor was set and we were safe she was her old self again. We cleaned up the boat, Ali cooked dinner, and I worked on the engines. It almost felt like the day hadn’t even happened, except that we were both sore, bruised, cut up, and exhausted. Sitting here now, I almost can’t believe that we didn’t lose our boat today. We made every stupid mistake you can make. The biggest mistake was going out in terrible weather for absolutely no reason except that we were bored of George Town and wanted to move on.

march 20 2004 : george town
Sitting in the rain in George Town, it is really pouring today. The last couple of days we have spent tuning up both engines. I had originally assumed that the port engine was overheating because of the impeller again. But the impeller still looked good. So now I’m not exactly sure what the problem is. I guess I am hoping that the engine was just being overloaded. We were motoring dead on into some 8 foot waves. So they were really getting worked hard. We’ll keep a closer eye on it for a while.

march 22 2004 : salt pond, north long island, bahamas
An absolutely beautiful day today. A great sail too, especially compared to our bundling misadventure the other day. There was just enough wind to keep the sails filled, giving us our first really nice sail in a while. We anchored, cleaned up the boat, had a few beers, dinner, and watched the sun go down. It was really a perfect all around day. The engines ran flawlessly. Why didn’t we do this the first time?

march 24 2004 : salt pond
The wind is howling along at 30 knots today. Luckily we are in a nice well protected anchorage here at Salt Pond. We got off the boat and walked around town yesterday. It is much more spread out than we are used to, and we had to walk about a mile and a half each way to see everything. There was a couple of nice grocery stores that were very well stocked, about as well as George Town, which was surprising. There was also a marine store and I was able to get an automatic bilge switch to replace the one that died on us. Of course it was the one in the still leaking bilge that I have never been able to conquer. So getting the switch replaced so that I wouldn’t have to manually check it every couple hours was a relief.

I also went spear fishing yesterday. Ali came along, expecting to lounge in the dinghy and read a book for an hour or so while I swam around. Unfortunately for her, I speared a nice big almaco jack after about five minutes. He was hanging around near the entrance to one of the blue holes in about 15 feet of water. This was the biggest fish I have speared so far, and the deepest, so I was a little nervous as I approached him. Luckily, a well placed shot killed him instantly, and I didn’t have to struggle with him at all. It’s been a while since we have had a good fish dinner, since fishing was technically off limits in the George Town Harbor. We even had so much fish that we get to have it tonight again, this time grilled right along side our hot dogs.

Our email is not working today for some reason, and we are completely inept at finding forecasts on the radio, so we are not sure how long this weather is supposed to last. It seems like we have had a lot more days with winds over 20 knots than under 20 knots since we’ve been in the Bahamas. The locals seem to think it has been an unusual year, but who knows. It’s days like this that you wish you could just flip on the television and veg out all day.

march 26 2004 : salt pond
We are now on day four of 25 knot winds. It hasn’t let up for even a few minutes. We’ve gone into the town of Salt Pond and walked down the main road in each direction as far as we care to go and were very disappointed not to find a nice little bar overlooking the water. Or any sort of bar or restaurant for that matter. We have officially determined that wind and overcast skies really tend to limit your activities while out here on the boat. You can’t go snorkeling because the water is so chopped up and cloudy you can’t see anything, and you can’t sit outside and enjoy the sunshine because there isn’t any. Normally, we don’t have a problem with this weather because it only lasts a day or two and then the sun is back out. But they are saying we’ve got at least two more days before things get back to normal. I know I’m whining, but we are getting restless.

Now let me tell you about our problems with our charts. First let me explain that we only use electronic charts, that we view on our computers and interface with the GPS, and autopilot. I know that statement will give all of you salty sailors out there a heart attack. So we have been using Nobeltec Visual Navigation Suite. Their charts of Florida, and especially the Bahamas, were excellent. We only found one time in six months where the depth on the chart was off by more than one foot. So we went ahead and ordered Nobeltec charts for Panama and the South Pacific. Well, when we got these new charts I knew right away that they were going to be basically worthless for us.

The detail on the South Pacific charts was terrible. Barely good enough to sail in between islands, much less sail into the harbors. The problem is that electronic charts are non-refundable, which makes sense I guess, since once they are loaded onto your computer you’ve got them. So I called them up and complained about how bad the South Pacific charts were, and they essentially agreed with me. Then we emailed back and forth a couple times, and they finally agreed to credit my account for the $450. So now I’m happy with Nobeltec again. Now the new problem is that we don’t have any charts for our next leg of the trip to Panama and beyond. Since the Panama charts I’ve got are only for the canal itself.

So I called Bluewater Books and Charts and finally decided on C-Map charts along with the MaxSea chart plotting software. We finally got those ordered yesterday and they are going to be sent FedEx on Monday. We’re hoping they show up by Wednesday. The FedEx shop is in a town about 15 miles south of here. We asked a couple of locals how to go about getting there. They said just throw out your thumb and someone will pick you up. Sounds good to us. Cheaper than renting a car.

march 28 2004 : salt pond
Pretty uneventful couple of days around here. We woke up this morning to find that the wind had finally died down. Ali cooked up a delicious pancakes and sausage breakfast. Quite the treat around here. Then this afternoon we took off one of the hatches and resealed it. It had been leaking a little bit ever since we got the boat, so we hope that this solves that problem. Eventually we want to do just about every hatch on the boat. It seems like at some time or another every one of them leaks a little bit. We had previously resealed the hatch in the starboard head and it hasn’t leaked a drop since, so it would be nice to do them all and have a nice dry boat.

Yesterday we woke to find that our water pressure pump wasn’t working. We have an extra one onboard so I thought I would just end up switching them out. So I unscrewed the old one, tipped it over and then back upright again. Ta Da! It’s working like new. Screwed it back in and I was done. Yes, I am quite the mechanic. Now what else can I fix?

march 31 2004 : en route to acklins island, bahamas
Yesterday our FedEx package arrived. We hitchhiked our way down there. What a great way to get around. It took two rides to get down there and three rides to get back. Out of all those rides only three cars didn’t stop to pick us up. One guy even picked up another person. The nice thing about hitchhiking here is that there is only one road, and it runs north to south along the whole island. So if someone is going your direction you know that they are going where you are going. Anyway, it’s great how friendly and trusting everyone is.

Right now it is nine in the morning. We upped anchor this morning at seven with no wind. The wind sensor thingymabob actually showed 0.0 knots of wind for the first time ever. There is supposed to be light winds of around 5-10 knots for a few days. Since we have been held up on our last two stops we are going to skip the next two anchorages we had planned and go straight to the southern tip of Acklins Island. It is 120 miles, and will be our longest straight shot so far. We decided that since the winds are predicted to be so light that we would just sail really slowly for a day or two. I figure if we can keep an average of just four knots we can be there tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully, we get the little bit of wind that is forecast because there is no way we are motoring for that long.

Alright, it’s seven p.m. now. It has remained incredibly calm all day. We have been motoring the entire time, alternating between the two engines 2 hours at a time. We had a couple dolphins come by, though they didn’t get too close. Other than that it was a pretty uneventful afternoon. One cool thing was how the blue of the sky matched the water perfectly today. There were times when you would look out at the water and you could not see the horizon at all. They blended together so perfectly that it was like a blue wall started about 50 feet away from the boat and went straight up forever.

SaveSave

SaveSave