Well, we're back. (Phooey.) Wind Dancer is now in Boot Key Harbor, Marathon Key, Fl, heading north tomorrow morning for an overnight sail to Fort Myers Beach. We left George Town almost three weeks ago (how time flies!) and had a fabulous trip up the Exumas. After sailing up the Sound (ocean side), we crossed over to the bank via Cave Cay Cut and spent our first evening anchored out at Black Point, just south of Staniel Cay, and met a delightful couple (Fred & Patti) on s/v Casa Mare. After a couple of days at Black Point, we "buddy boated" with Casa Mare northward through the Exumas, stopping off to anchor overnight at Big Majors Spot next to Staniel Cay (home of the cruiser-friendly, swimming pigs), then the Rocky Dundas (cool caves that you can snorkel into or dinghy into if the tide is really low), Compass Cay, Shroud Cay (remember the dinghy trip through the mangroves on our way down the Exumas in February when the tide went out and left us stranded?), Norman's Cay, and, finally, an overnight stay in Nassau at the Harbor Club Marina. In Shroud Cay, we picked up another "buddy boat" (Jim & Carol on Windquest) and we three boats sailed from Nassau across the banks to Cat Cay, where we stayed at the Cat Cay Yacht Club before departing the next day for Miami. After a couple of nights at the Miami Marina Bayside, we bid our buddy boats adieu and Wind Dancer sailed south for the Keys. We anchored out overnight at Rodriguez Cay, awoke at 6:00a.m. to a squall with tons of lightning and, since our anchor was dragging, decided that we might as well get moving. We sailed into Marathon later that day and are once again at Boot Key Harbor, doing some minor reprovisioning before heading to Fort Myers tomorrow.
Dear friends of ours, Daren & Nancy Tackis on s/v Flying Dogs, left Rockport, TX a few weeks ago, taking the ICW around the Gulf Coast en route to their eventual destination of Costa Rica. They have spent the past couple of weeks in Pensacola, leaving there yesterday (Saturday) and we think the timing will be perfect for us to rendezvous in Fort Myers as they make their way down the Florida coast. It will be great seeing them again!
Since it's been almost three weeks since our last blog, obviously the above is an abbreviated version of the wonderful sailing, snorkeling, etc. that we have enjoyed. However, since a picture is worth a thousand words (and since we owe you some anyway, as I recall), we're posting a jillion of them at the end of this so you can see some of the highlights of the last three weeks. We have truly had an extraordinary trip and look forward to doing it again in the fall. One of the greatest benefits of the cruising lifestyle is the friends you make at various stops along the way. Al and I agree that we have made more friends during our three months in the Bahamas while cruising than we made during the previous 30 years of our marriage. And we know we'll run into many of them again on future trips, where we'll make even more friends! What a great thing to be able to look forward to!
That being said, we'll now post pics for you. Thanks for following us for these many months. We hope you've enjoyed the ride.
Fair Winds from the Crew of Wind Dancer
Sue, Al, Sophie & Chelsea
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
WE'RE ON OUR WAY HOME
This will be rather quick but wanted to let everyone know
we’re alive and well. We’re going
to be leaving George Town tomorrow morning and sailing north, headed for the
States. We plan on taking our time
and stopping off at places that we missed on our way down the Exuma chain of
islands. On the way down, we
increased our efforts to reach George Town in order to address our broken
refrigeration unit and the broken battery charger. The refrigerator is once again working and the batteries are
once again charging, so we’re eager to see some of the gorgeous places we
missed.
However, we have had a GREAT time in George Town. We ended up staying here long enough to
be able to see the Family Island Regatta, the largest regatta in the Bahamas,
and it was a sight to see. All the
entrants are Bahamian sloops, built by Bahamians to very strict standards. The boats are classic wooden boats with
enormous sail area (the sails are made of cotton canvas), the booms extending
far out past the stern of the boat.
No winches are allowed to be used; it’s strictly “people power.” The boats line up at the start by
anchoring and then falling back.
When the start gun goes off, some of the crew works feverishly pulling
up the anchor while others work on raising the jib and the mainsail, all by
hand. There are several classes of
sloops, including a junior handling class, and the regatta lasts for a total of
four days. The cruisers, such as
Al and myself, get in their dinghies and zip around the race course with the
sloops and, boy, are they fast! We
have to have our motor maxed out to keep up with them! We accidentally ended up having the
best seat in the house between races.
Wind Dancer was on a mooring directly adjacent to Amazing Grace, the
service boat for two of the most famous of the racing sloops: Lady Muriel and Tida Wave. Both sloops were kept at Amazing Grace
at night and between races, so Al and I were able to view them and their crews
“up close and personal.” Beautiful
hand-made boats. In any case, Lady
Muriel (my favorite) ended up taking first place overall in the regatta, with
Tida Wave taking second place.
Both boats are from Staniel Cay so we’ll be able to see them again on
our way back up the Exumas.
That’s about it for now. Our weather window for the next few days looks great for
sailing, so off we go. We’ll keep
you posted along the way as internet connections permit. In the meantime, as always, wish you
were here! (We have an early start tomorrow...6:30a.m....so must cut this short and get to bed. Photos will follow with the next blog.)
Fair Winds from the Crew of Wind Dancer
Sue, Al, Sophie & Chelsea
Sunday, April 1, 2012
JUST ANOTHER DAY (MAKE THAT ANOTHER MONTH) IN PARADISE
Ah, the things we take for granted in today’s world. Such as internet access. Well, never again, let me tell you. I had just about given up ever posting another blog in the Bahamas until Al suggested that I type it on “Word” and then copy & paste it to the blogspot. So this is that attempt. Internet service (when it’s available) is usually as slow as Christmas in the Bahamas and you find that virtually all of your purchased wifi minutes get used up just trying to access emails, internet, etc. (SO…that’s my excuse THIS TIME for being so tardy in getting this posting to you.)
It’s been so long since I’ve updated our blog that I’ve forgotten at least half of the fun stuff that I should be posting. (And by now you probably think we’re dead anyway.) We had a really nice time at Warderick Wells, meeting what turned out to be good friends Hank & Trisha on Aventura (a 46 ft Island Packet) at the Saturday night beachside happy hour party. A few days later, we said good-bye to Emerald Seas and Orion and headed south to Staniel Cay with Aventura, where we stayed for two nights. Staniel Cay is a cool little cay that offers the Staniel Cay Yacht Club (which includes the outdoor restaurant and bar that made it to Jimmy Buffet’s “top 10” list of the world’s best places to have a drink), as well as three small stores from which to reprovision, these being the “pink store,” the “blue store” and Isles general store. (Ah, how wonderful is fresh produce!) The cay also includes the famous “Thunderball grotto” featured in two of the James Bond movies as well as “Splash.” Just north of Staniel Cay is Big Majors Cay, home of the cruiser-friendly pigs that greet you on the beach in hopes of handouts (carrots are a big hit). Some of the pigs will actually swim out to your dinghy as you come in. In any case, Aventura left Staniel Cay after one night, heading south to George Town while we opted to stay another day. After they left, it dawned on Al and me that we were totally on our own for the first time since we had arrived in the Bahamas. Exciting! In any case, after a great time at Staniel Cay, we sailed south toward George Town, anchoring overnight off the tiny island of Galliott Cay. The next morning, we sailed around the corner of the cay and out into Exuma Sound (the ocean side of the Exumas vs the inside, more protected and shallower Exuma banks) through Galliott Cut. (The Exuma banks are too shallow if you try to sail much further south than Galliott Cay, so a sail to George Town has to be done outside, on the Sound in deep water.) We had 25 knot winds “on the nose” and 4-6 ft seas for the approximately 7 hours we spent motor-sailing to George Town but we arrived safe and sound on a Saturday, the day before some really lousy weather was expected. George Town (a large town on a large island at the southern end of the Exumas) is a cruiser’s paradise, with a HUGE protected harbor. Most boats anchor or moor across the harbor from George Town at Stocking Island, which is what we did. Chat N Chill, a great little beach bar/restaurant sits at Gaviota Bay, where we were lucky to pick up the last available mooring on Sunday, just before the big “blow” was forecast to hit on Sunday night. We had close to a week of 30-40 knot winds and it was awfully nice being on a mooring instead of having to get up every couple of hours to check on the anchor.
The primary reason we had zoomed down to George Town rather than go at a slower pace down the Exumas was to see if we could get our refrigeration unit repaired. Buying ice on a daily basis gets old (and that’s if you can even find it; it’s unavailable at many of the smaller cays, some of which are totally uninhabited). In any case, to make a really long story short, as of two days ago…and after roughly 30 days without it…we now have refrigeration again. It involved having the part shipped from the manufacturer, which is always interesting in the Bahamas. Will it arrive or won’t it? It got held up in Nassau in Customs but we were finally able to have it released and, wahoo, ice cubes again! How wonderful life is!
While we were waiting for the refrigeration part, our battery charger decided to bite the dust. Having found that there is no such thing as a battery charger in George Town (other than smaller ones for cars), we have just finished ordering one to be shipped to us from West Marine in Ft. Lauderdale. Cross your fingers, folks.
Al has decided that our shakedown cruise thus far has alternated between sailing one day and repairing something the next day, which goes hand-in-hand with one of the definitions of sailing: Sailing: An opportunity to repair things in exotic places. We felt better after talking with the owner of a brand new 50 ft Beneteau and he’s going through the same thing, with something breaking almost every other day.
While here in George Town, we have run into old friends Chuck & Maryanne on Symphony (they have recently left us, heading north towards home but will be back in two years, when we hope to see them). Al will especially miss Maryanne’s homemade brownies. Thanks, Maryanne! We moored right next to Aventura upon arriving here and were delighted to be asked by Hank & Trisha to crew on Aventura along with another couple on an organized fun race around the island. Aventura took 2nd place in her class, so we felt pretty good about that. Hank & Trisha had to leave prior to the awards party, so we accepted on their behalf: a trophy, a pennant and a bottle of rum. We have let Aventura know that we will mail the trophy and pennant to them once they are home (in Durango, CO) and we’ll let them know how the rum tastes!
George Town is truly a mecca for sailors. Many boats find themselves spending months here. There is a large cruisers’ regatta (that we arrived just a little too late to see) with literally hundreds of boats participating. (Note to us: next year the festivities begin on February 25.) Late April is the Family Island Regatta, the largest regatta in the Bahamas, with Bahamians from all over the islands competing fiercely, many in boats they have built themselves. I understand it is quite something to see; unfortunately, we will probably be gone by then, working our way back up the islands and heading back to the U.S., being slated to arrive sometime in early June. In any case, we have loved George Town and Stocking Island.
Also while here, we ran into Rod & Eveline on Manatee. You might remember Manatee as having been one of the four boats in our little flotilla when we left Boot Key Harbor heading for Bimini. They left us, Emerald Seas and Orion while we were all in Nassau, due to their wanting to scoot down to Grenada as soon as possible. Boy, were we surprised to see them in George Town! We had thought they’d be halfway to Grenada by now. The reason they were here is simple: waiting on weather. It’s impossible to describe to a non-cruiser just how important the weather is when you are sailing. You just don’t want to be caught in the wrong place at the wrong time with the winds and seas against you. I have heard it said that the most dangerous thing a sailor can have on board is a calendar and a planned date to be somewhere by a certain time.
In any case, one of the most fun events we have participated in was a sail from George Town to Long Island (roughly a 6-hr sail). Over 30 boats made the trip (one leg of which was a timed race, with the boats being divided into classes and having assigned handicaps). Manatee had left early that morning, heading out with three other “buddy” boats, planning to sail to the north end of Long Island (we, as well as the other 30+ boats were headed for Thompson Bay, approx. halfway down the island) and from there, out and around and then south to Mayaguana, the Turks & Caicos, and from then on, farther south, headed toward Grenada. Imagine our surprise when, as we approached the starting line of the race leg, we heard Manatee on the radio asking if they could participate in the race. It seems that the seas had grown, the winds had picked up, and they were taking more of a pounding that they were willing to put up with. Also, their foursome of “buddy boaters” had fallen apart: one developed a serious oil leak and had to return to George Town, one had decided on changing course to use an inside passage, and one (larger) boat had decided to tough it out on the original course. In any case, Manatee joined us in Thompson Bay and we spent most of our time with Rod & Eveline, having a ball. One day (I think we spent four days there) the four of us rented a car and drove down to Clarence Town at the southern tip of the island, stopping off at Dean’s Blue Hole along the way. At 663 ft, Dean’s is the deepest known “blue hole” in the world. (Lord knows what lurks down there at the bottom!) One minute you’re in ankle deep water and three steps later (well, there are no three steps later…you’re in extraordinarily deep water if you try to take three steps).
The highlight (for me, anyway) of the Long Island trip, was the awards night dinner & dance at Island Breeze Resort. (Incidentally, Wind Dancer took 4th place, out of 10 boats in her class, so wahoo!) Rockin’ Ron and his wife, Karen, cruising sailors on Sea Dancer, do an extraordinary job of organizing cruiser events at Stocking Island (every year!) throughout the weeks surrounding regatta week and they had organized the Long Island event as well. At Island Breeze on Thompson Bay, they also provided the dance music with Ron acting as D.J. Great music (Rod & Eveline are terrific jitterbuggers!), great fun. But the hoot of the evening was when Ron announced that he was going to play a “sing along” that some of us might not know but that we would be able to pick up on pretty quickly. He also added that he had received management’s permission to play it (which should have given us a clue). Have you ever heard the song “Alice?” Well, we hadn’t. It’s a young man singing about the fact that he couldn’t believe that he had spent 23 (I think) years living next door to Alice (and letting you know that he obviously hadn’t appreciated her until it was too late). The chorus (and Ron was right…it doesn’t take much to get on board with it) goes “Alice? Alice?!! Who the ?!*#! Is Alice?!” Al cautioned me against putting this on the blog, saying that you have to have been there to fully appreciate how funny a bunch of drunken sailors are when they’re singing about Alice. If you don’t know it, "You Tube" it. It’s hysterical. But only sing it if you’re drunk…or well on the way to being there.
The day we left Long Island, Manatee headed out again and, according to their reports, all is well on their journey south. (Next year, they plan on being in the BVI and we’re hoping to see them there.) Upon returning to George Town, we have run into both Emerald Seas and Orion (well not literally) and it has been great seeing Jim, Renate, Lyle & Julie again. Julie drew us a map of all the great snorkeling spots to hit on our way back up the Exumas. Thanks, Julie!
Sophie & Chelsea are demanding daily dinghy rides (they truly bug us until it happens) but recently we have had to institute a “two paws planted” rule in the dinghy, making them keep their two hind legs on the floor of the dinghy. Prior to that, Chelsea, and to a lesser degree, Sophie, spent a lot of their time balancing on the tubes of the dinghy and would occasionally lose their balance, resulting in a soaking wet dog having to be dragged back aboard and returned to the mother ship for a fresh water rinse. This began to get old, hence the “two paws planted” rule. They’re adjusting, but not happily.
Well, that’s about it for now. Oh, wait! I just remembered one of the fun things I was going to tell you. When flushing the head (toilet to you land lubbers), we have always used fresh water whenever in marinas or close to shore. But here, at Stocking Island, the water is so clean that we simply pump sea water into the head to flush with. One day, after pumping in the sea water, we noticed something in the head. It was a baby (and I do mean baby, as in tiny) octopus! Al fished him out (carefully) and we deposited him gently over the side into the water. It somehow warms the cockles (whatever cockles are) of your heart.
I would love to tell you what our plans are now, but we’ve almost stopped making plans. We will probably begin the trip north in about a week (IF we receive the battery charger and IF the weather cooperates…and IF nothing else breaks). In the meantime, we are thoroughly enjoying our time in George Town and can see why boaters have a tendency to camp out here. The temperature (80ish, requiring no heaters, no A/C), the almost constant breeze, the gorgeous water, the great boating community, all the new friends we've made…it’s awfully nice.
Once again, wish you were here.
Fair Winds from the Crew of Wind Dancer,
Sue, Al, Sophie & Chelsea
Sunday, February 26, 2012
WE HAVE INTERNET!!! (FOR AWHILE, ANYWAY)
Saturday, February 26
A week's worth of activity to catch up on! (And for those of you who have been asking for more pictures, boy, do we have pictures!) After leaving Nassau, we three boats (Wind Dancer, Emerald Seas and Orion) made it to Allan's Cay in the Exumas, a lovely little cay with a wonderful, protected anchorage. After dinghying to shore the next morning, we were greeted by a horde of iguanas (some of whom were pretty aggressive in wanting their grape-on-a stick!). In any case, we were glad we used the sticks to create a little bit of room between our fingers and the grapes. But it was great fun and not to have been missed as one of the things you simply must do in this neck of the woods. Allan's Cay is the only place on earth that these particular prehistoric (and not too attractive) iguanas exist, so it really is special to see them. (It's the one place we forgot to take the camera. Sorry. They would have been great pics.)
After overnighting at Allan's Cay, we sailed just a few hours south to Norman's Cay and anchored out. A couple of hundred feet from our boat there was a delightful little island (as in tiny island) that we dinghied Sophie & Chelsea to, and did they have a ball running around the island, splashing through the water, and getting loaded up with sand. What fun!! That was followed by a quick dunk in the ocean for the dogs, which was then followed by a quick fresh water rinse. They loved it! 
The next day, the six of us (Jim, Renate, Lyle, Julie and ourselves) took a walking tour across some of Norman's Cay and had lunch (and, of course, rum & pineapple juice!) at a great little open air restaurant & bar called the Norman's Cay Beach Club.
While at Norman's Cay, we also saw Chuck & Marianne on their boat, Symphony. We had met them while staying in Nassau at the marina there. In any case, while talking with them at Norman's, the subject of boat names came up and we had to confess that when we re-named Wind Dancer (originally Ithaka), we had not been aware that a mandatory re-naming ceremony is required, involving much drinking and merrymaking with other sailors. If this is not done, Neptune frowns upon you and you apparently are taking your life in your (or his) hands every time you set sail. However, never having heard that the ceremony could not be done retroactively, we decided that the old adage "better late than never" applied and the ceremony was scheduled for that evening. Lyle & Julie arrived in costume (he in a Scottish kilt, beret and scabbard and she in piratical garb) bearing a Tiki god, and Jim, Renate, Chuck & Marianne joined in the fun. It was decided that any ceremony involving a Texas boat had, of necessity, to include the imbibing of margaritas, so Sue made her really, really good homemade margaritas (remember those, Nancy & Daren?) and a great time was had by all. A marvelous poem provided by Lyle & Julie had excerpts read by all in attendance and, with a Sue & Al kiss and the obligatory splashing of alcohol on her bow, Wind Dancer was toasted by all and was officially christened, hence to be smiled upon by Neptune and his friends (hopefully).
Then the next day it was on just a little way south to Shroud Cay, where the draw is that the island is covered with mangroves. We took advantage of a mooring ball at Shroud and the next day we took the three dinghies across the island, dinghying in an extremely shallow creek through the mangroves to a beautiful little beach and reef where we had lunch and then snorkeled. The surprise of the day was when we returned to the dinghies, only to find that the tide had gone out, leaving them high and dry. All we could do was take the motors off each dinghy and then everyone joined in lifting (and dragging) each dinghy, followed by another trip with each motor, carrying each one more than one hundred yards (approx. the length of a football field). It was exhausting work and, boy, did we learn our lesson. Pay attention to the tides! Once we were finally able to be afloat, we took another (almost equally shallow) route on the return trip, which took us to another cool little beach where everyone took a well deserved swim before heading back.
And this is what we were greeted with when we tried to leave.
After spending one more night at Shroud Cay, we left on Thursday, sailing south approximately five hours to where we are currently: Warderick Wells Cay. Warderick Wells is home to the park headquarters for the Exuma Land & Sea Park, a 176-square mile area set aside as a land and marine protected area. The park is 22 miles along and extends out four miles on either side of the cays it encompasses (15 large cays and several tiny ones). Its purpose is to "provide a safe haven and replenishment area for the wildlife native to the Bahamas and to educate the public in saving this beautiful environment for future generations." It is a "no take" area, wherein no fishing, no conching, no lobstering, etc. is allowed. Warderick Wells is a very popular destination in the Exumas, and we were lucky to get a mooring here. A front with some pretty strong winds is due to arrive on Sunday/Monday, so we plan on staying here a few days before heading south to our next planned destination of Cambridge Cay, followed by Staniel Cay and then Georgetown, a large (by Bahamian standards) town with a population of a little over 1,000 people, which will allow us to do some replenishing and have our refrigeration system (which has been on the fritz lately) worked on. In the meantime, we are able to buy ice here at the park headquarters, so all is well insofar as being able to keep our food chilled (heaven forbid if we couldn't have cold beer!). The park even has a happy hour on Saturday nights, which we plan on attending this evening. All the cruisers here at the moorings descend on the beach, everyone brings a dish to share, along with their own drinks, and the park provides ice for everyone. What fun!
While I've been typing, Al has spent the the afternoon in the water, in his wetsuit, mask & fins, scraping barnacles off the hull of Wind Dancer. Well, somebody has to do it (and it's not going to be me). I put on my wetsuit, mask & fins, got into the water with him and two minutes later a six-foot shark swam by directly underneath me (and we're only in 12 feet of water, folks). That was the quickest I've ever climbed a swim ladder, and no amount of telling me "It's only a nurse shark, babe" was going to get me back in there today.
Back to the Exuma Park. Due to their being protected, the lobsters within the park area grow to be huge. Al and I have decided that we need to buy a spear gun so we can catch (and eat!) our own lobsters after leaving the park. (We'll let you know how that goes.) Another delicacy enjoyed in the Bahamas is conch and according to park literature "The concentration of conch inside the Exuma Park is 31 times higher than the concentration outside the park. This conservatively provides several million conch outside the park for fishermen to harvest each year." That's a lot of conch. And it's prepared in a jillion different ways: cracked conch, conch chowder, conch fritters, fried conch, you name it. It's a little chewy...but most people like it (Sue being the exception). Also, daily at 6:00 p.m. it's traditional for those cruisers who have queen conch shells aboard (and who know how to blow them), to simultaneously blow their conch shells throughout an anchorage. Too cool.
Was going to post this on Saturday but our internet connection got a little screwy and it didn't happen, so...today is now Sunday. The happy hour on the beach gave us a chance to meet the other cruisers here and we met one really nice couple (Hank & Trisha on Aventura) who is on the same page with us environmentally, knowledgeable about plastics, etc. so we have made new friends. The front arrived overnight as predicted (we currently have 25-30 mph winds) so we're hanging out here for another day or two until the winds die down before heading south. There are several marked trails on Warderick Wells and Al and I plan on walking on at least one of them today (we've chosen the Boo Boo Hill Trail that takes us to the other side of the island for starters).
Well, that's it for news. We've tried taking pictures of the water to show you how magnificent the colors are but our camera simply cannot do it justice. Exquisite water. Easy to see why the Exumas are labeled the best cruising grounds in the western hemisphere. Absolutely beautiful.
Sophie & Chelsea have come to expect their daily dinghy ride (so much so that they bug us until we take them). Here's the typical ride, with Chelsea on the left, butt in the air and head as close to the water as she can manage, looking for dolphin.
Off we go trail walking. Thanks as always for following us. We'll keep in touch as we're able. Until then,
Fair Winds from the Crew of Wind Dancer
Sue, Al, Sophie & Chelsea
A week's worth of activity to catch up on! (And for those of you who have been asking for more pictures, boy, do we have pictures!) After leaving Nassau, we three boats (Wind Dancer, Emerald Seas and Orion) made it to Allan's Cay in the Exumas, a lovely little cay with a wonderful, protected anchorage. After dinghying to shore the next morning, we were greeted by a horde of iguanas (some of whom were pretty aggressive in wanting their grape-on-a stick!). In any case, we were glad we used the sticks to create a little bit of room between our fingers and the grapes. But it was great fun and not to have been missed as one of the things you simply must do in this neck of the woods. Allan's Cay is the only place on earth that these particular prehistoric (and not too attractive) iguanas exist, so it really is special to see them. (It's the one place we forgot to take the camera. Sorry. They would have been great pics.)
After overnighting at Allan's Cay, we sailed just a few hours south to Norman's Cay and anchored out. A couple of hundred feet from our boat there was a delightful little island (as in tiny island) that we dinghied Sophie & Chelsea to, and did they have a ball running around the island, splashing through the water, and getting loaded up with sand. What fun!! That was followed by a quick dunk in the ocean for the dogs, which was then followed by a quick fresh water rinse. They loved it! 
The next day, the six of us (Jim, Renate, Lyle, Julie and ourselves) took a walking tour across some of Norman's Cay and had lunch (and, of course, rum & pineapple juice!) at a great little open air restaurant & bar called the Norman's Cay Beach Club.
While at Norman's Cay, we also saw Chuck & Marianne on their boat, Symphony. We had met them while staying in Nassau at the marina there. In any case, while talking with them at Norman's, the subject of boat names came up and we had to confess that when we re-named Wind Dancer (originally Ithaka), we had not been aware that a mandatory re-naming ceremony is required, involving much drinking and merrymaking with other sailors. If this is not done, Neptune frowns upon you and you apparently are taking your life in your (or his) hands every time you set sail. However, never having heard that the ceremony could not be done retroactively, we decided that the old adage "better late than never" applied and the ceremony was scheduled for that evening. Lyle & Julie arrived in costume (he in a Scottish kilt, beret and scabbard and she in piratical garb) bearing a Tiki god, and Jim, Renate, Chuck & Marianne joined in the fun. It was decided that any ceremony involving a Texas boat had, of necessity, to include the imbibing of margaritas, so Sue made her really, really good homemade margaritas (remember those, Nancy & Daren?) and a great time was had by all. A marvelous poem provided by Lyle & Julie had excerpts read by all in attendance and, with a Sue & Al kiss and the obligatory splashing of alcohol on her bow, Wind Dancer was toasted by all and was officially christened, hence to be smiled upon by Neptune and his friends (hopefully).
Then the next day it was on just a little way south to Shroud Cay, where the draw is that the island is covered with mangroves. We took advantage of a mooring ball at Shroud and the next day we took the three dinghies across the island, dinghying in an extremely shallow creek through the mangroves to a beautiful little beach and reef where we had lunch and then snorkeled. The surprise of the day was when we returned to the dinghies, only to find that the tide had gone out, leaving them high and dry. All we could do was take the motors off each dinghy and then everyone joined in lifting (and dragging) each dinghy, followed by another trip with each motor, carrying each one more than one hundred yards (approx. the length of a football field). It was exhausting work and, boy, did we learn our lesson. Pay attention to the tides! Once we were finally able to be afloat, we took another (almost equally shallow) route on the return trip, which took us to another cool little beach where everyone took a well deserved swim before heading back.
And this is what we were greeted with when we tried to leave.
After spending one more night at Shroud Cay, we left on Thursday, sailing south approximately five hours to where we are currently: Warderick Wells Cay. Warderick Wells is home to the park headquarters for the Exuma Land & Sea Park, a 176-square mile area set aside as a land and marine protected area. The park is 22 miles along and extends out four miles on either side of the cays it encompasses (15 large cays and several tiny ones). Its purpose is to "provide a safe haven and replenishment area for the wildlife native to the Bahamas and to educate the public in saving this beautiful environment for future generations." It is a "no take" area, wherein no fishing, no conching, no lobstering, etc. is allowed. Warderick Wells is a very popular destination in the Exumas, and we were lucky to get a mooring here. A front with some pretty strong winds is due to arrive on Sunday/Monday, so we plan on staying here a few days before heading south to our next planned destination of Cambridge Cay, followed by Staniel Cay and then Georgetown, a large (by Bahamian standards) town with a population of a little over 1,000 people, which will allow us to do some replenishing and have our refrigeration system (which has been on the fritz lately) worked on. In the meantime, we are able to buy ice here at the park headquarters, so all is well insofar as being able to keep our food chilled (heaven forbid if we couldn't have cold beer!). The park even has a happy hour on Saturday nights, which we plan on attending this evening. All the cruisers here at the moorings descend on the beach, everyone brings a dish to share, along with their own drinks, and the park provides ice for everyone. What fun!
While I've been typing, Al has spent the the afternoon in the water, in his wetsuit, mask & fins, scraping barnacles off the hull of Wind Dancer. Well, somebody has to do it (and it's not going to be me). I put on my wetsuit, mask & fins, got into the water with him and two minutes later a six-foot shark swam by directly underneath me (and we're only in 12 feet of water, folks). That was the quickest I've ever climbed a swim ladder, and no amount of telling me "It's only a nurse shark, babe" was going to get me back in there today.
Back to the Exuma Park. Due to their being protected, the lobsters within the park area grow to be huge. Al and I have decided that we need to buy a spear gun so we can catch (and eat!) our own lobsters after leaving the park. (We'll let you know how that goes.) Another delicacy enjoyed in the Bahamas is conch and according to park literature "The concentration of conch inside the Exuma Park is 31 times higher than the concentration outside the park. This conservatively provides several million conch outside the park for fishermen to harvest each year." That's a lot of conch. And it's prepared in a jillion different ways: cracked conch, conch chowder, conch fritters, fried conch, you name it. It's a little chewy...but most people like it (Sue being the exception). Also, daily at 6:00 p.m. it's traditional for those cruisers who have queen conch shells aboard (and who know how to blow them), to simultaneously blow their conch shells throughout an anchorage. Too cool.
Was going to post this on Saturday but our internet connection got a little screwy and it didn't happen, so...today is now Sunday. The happy hour on the beach gave us a chance to meet the other cruisers here and we met one really nice couple (Hank & Trisha on Aventura) who is on the same page with us environmentally, knowledgeable about plastics, etc. so we have made new friends. The front arrived overnight as predicted (we currently have 25-30 mph winds) so we're hanging out here for another day or two until the winds die down before heading south. There are several marked trails on Warderick Wells and Al and I plan on walking on at least one of them today (we've chosen the Boo Boo Hill Trail that takes us to the other side of the island for starters).
Well, that's it for news. We've tried taking pictures of the water to show you how magnificent the colors are but our camera simply cannot do it justice. Exquisite water. Easy to see why the Exumas are labeled the best cruising grounds in the western hemisphere. Absolutely beautiful.
Sophie & Chelsea have come to expect their daily dinghy ride (so much so that they bug us until we take them). Here's the typical ride, with Chelsea on the left, butt in the air and head as close to the water as she can manage, looking for dolphin.
Off we go trail walking. Thanks as always for following us. We'll keep in touch as we're able. Until then,
Fair Winds from the Crew of Wind Dancer
Sue, Al, Sophie & Chelsea
Thursday, February 16, 2012
LEAVING NASSAU, HEADING FOR ALLAN'S CAY, EXUMAS
Thursday, February 16
We've been having the dickens of a time getting wi-fi connections here in Nassau, so please excuse our tardiness in updating the blog. We arrived in Nassau last Saturday after an overnight sail from Bimini. A lot of conversation took place on the VHF in the morning concerning whether we (Wind Dancer) would accompany our friends on their three boats on their planned route or whether we would head north, going around Bimini and then down to Nassau (a longer route by approx. 40 miles but with deeper water for the entire trip). Our draft of 6 ft was deeper than that of the other boats and there was cause for concern since we were slated to go over an area of very shallow water. One boater (whom we did not know) got on the radio and said "Don't even think about it. No boat with a six foot draft EVER goes that way!" Well, we decided to trust our friends and go with them but, yes, it did get shallow (but gorgeous!). It was between eight and nine feet deep for a substantial portion of the trip (the lowest we saw on our depth finder was 7.8 feet, so we were okay). But what was funny was that after all the VHF discussion in the morning before leaving Bimini, when we four boats finally left harbor, four other boats (whose occupants we did not know) came racing to catch up with us and then stayed right behind us all the way to Nassau. Al and I figured that they, having heard the VHF traffic, decided to follow hard on the heels of Wind Dancer. If we could make it, so could they! In any case, all of us managed to stay fairly close together for the entire overnight trip and arrived in Nassau harbor Saturday morning like 8 little ducks, all in a row.
While in Nassau, we took one day out to simply be tourists and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. We walked over the bridge to Paradise Island and toured the really impressive Atlantis aquarium there. The battery on the camera chose that day to require a charge before it would continue, so we didn't take as many pictures as we would have liked. Sorry about that! It really is worth seeing. (Pictures will be posted next time; in our haste to get to the Texaco station tonight to take advantage of their internet access, where we are now, we completely forgot to bring the USB cord to download the pictures. Sorry about that!)
As far as our time in Nassau goes, we have spent it doing what seems like a jillion things getting us and Wind Dancer prepared for the next part of the journey, which is heading for the relatively uninhabited Exuma cays where we'll be anchored out the vast majority of the time, using our dinghy to get to shore, and, in general, having to be more self-sufficient than has been necessary so far. But it's the part of the trip we've looked the most forward to and we can hardly wait to get going. We're leaving for Allan's Cay tomorrow morning (having stayed at the Nassau Harbour Club Marina while here, where Peter, the dock master, took great care of us). Among other things, Allan's Cay is known for having a substantial population of prehistoric iguanas who apparently come out to see what you're all about when you dinghy in to shore. They have been led to expect handouts from cruisers and we understand that they absolutely love grapes, apples and, of all things, weiners. Unfortunately, they often can't tell the difference between the weiner and your finger...and they bite! We had initially decided that there would be no feeding of the iguanas by Wind Dancer but have since been told that a grape-on-a-stick is enough to make an iguana happy and that sounds doable. We'll see.
We sail tomorrow w/o Manatee; Rod & Eveline left a couple of days ago and are headed for Grenada. But, as much as we will miss them, we have met many people here at the marina who are headed for the Exumas and we'll no doubt be running into many of them as time goes by. We may even run into Rod & Eveline next year in the Virgin Islands. Sounds good to us!
Well, that's all the news that's fit for reporting. Heaven knows when we'll have internet access again but we'll keep you posted as often as we can. Thanks once again for following us!
Fair Winds from the Crew of Wind Dancer
Sue, Al, Sophie & Chelsea
We've been having the dickens of a time getting wi-fi connections here in Nassau, so please excuse our tardiness in updating the blog. We arrived in Nassau last Saturday after an overnight sail from Bimini. A lot of conversation took place on the VHF in the morning concerning whether we (Wind Dancer) would accompany our friends on their three boats on their planned route or whether we would head north, going around Bimini and then down to Nassau (a longer route by approx. 40 miles but with deeper water for the entire trip). Our draft of 6 ft was deeper than that of the other boats and there was cause for concern since we were slated to go over an area of very shallow water. One boater (whom we did not know) got on the radio and said "Don't even think about it. No boat with a six foot draft EVER goes that way!" Well, we decided to trust our friends and go with them but, yes, it did get shallow (but gorgeous!). It was between eight and nine feet deep for a substantial portion of the trip (the lowest we saw on our depth finder was 7.8 feet, so we were okay). But what was funny was that after all the VHF discussion in the morning before leaving Bimini, when we four boats finally left harbor, four other boats (whose occupants we did not know) came racing to catch up with us and then stayed right behind us all the way to Nassau. Al and I figured that they, having heard the VHF traffic, decided to follow hard on the heels of Wind Dancer. If we could make it, so could they! In any case, all of us managed to stay fairly close together for the entire overnight trip and arrived in Nassau harbor Saturday morning like 8 little ducks, all in a row.
While in Nassau, we took one day out to simply be tourists and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. We walked over the bridge to Paradise Island and toured the really impressive Atlantis aquarium there. The battery on the camera chose that day to require a charge before it would continue, so we didn't take as many pictures as we would have liked. Sorry about that! It really is worth seeing. (Pictures will be posted next time; in our haste to get to the Texaco station tonight to take advantage of their internet access, where we are now, we completely forgot to bring the USB cord to download the pictures. Sorry about that!)
As far as our time in Nassau goes, we have spent it doing what seems like a jillion things getting us and Wind Dancer prepared for the next part of the journey, which is heading for the relatively uninhabited Exuma cays where we'll be anchored out the vast majority of the time, using our dinghy to get to shore, and, in general, having to be more self-sufficient than has been necessary so far. But it's the part of the trip we've looked the most forward to and we can hardly wait to get going. We're leaving for Allan's Cay tomorrow morning (having stayed at the Nassau Harbour Club Marina while here, where Peter, the dock master, took great care of us). Among other things, Allan's Cay is known for having a substantial population of prehistoric iguanas who apparently come out to see what you're all about when you dinghy in to shore. They have been led to expect handouts from cruisers and we understand that they absolutely love grapes, apples and, of all things, weiners. Unfortunately, they often can't tell the difference between the weiner and your finger...and they bite! We had initially decided that there would be no feeding of the iguanas by Wind Dancer but have since been told that a grape-on-a-stick is enough to make an iguana happy and that sounds doable. We'll see.
We sail tomorrow w/o Manatee; Rod & Eveline left a couple of days ago and are headed for Grenada. But, as much as we will miss them, we have met many people here at the marina who are headed for the Exumas and we'll no doubt be running into many of them as time goes by. We may even run into Rod & Eveline next year in the Virgin Islands. Sounds good to us!
Sue celebrated her 65th birthday here on Monday and has decided that 80 degree weather makes for a much better celebration than does the typical February Houston weather!
Well, that's all the news that's fit for reporting. Heaven knows when we'll have internet access again but we'll keep you posted as often as we can. Thanks once again for following us!
Fair Winds from the Crew of Wind Dancer
Sue, Al, Sophie & Chelsea
Thursday, February 9, 2012
WE'RE IN THE BAHAMAS!
Thursday, February 9
The water here is simply not to be believed. There's a reason The Bahamas are known as having the most beautiful waters in the world; absolutely exquisitely clear water with every shade of blue and green imaginable. At one point when we were approaching Bimini, Al asked me what the depth was. When I replied "60 feet," he said "I can see the bottom." Truly breathtakingly beautiful. And so remarkably clear! How fortunate we are to be here.
Our group of four boats (we call ourselves the Moonlighters) is heading off tomorrow for Nassau. It's another overnight sail with the weather forecast not quite as great as it was for the crossing of the Gulf Stream, but it s/b fine. We hadn't initially planned on going to Nassau, thinking we would prefer to visit the less inhabited out islands, anchoring out as much as possible and dinghying around the various islands as opposed to staying at marinas. However, the water here is chillier than we were used to when we snorkeled in the Virgin Islands and our friends have convinced us that we really do need wetsuits to be comfortable. Did I mention that Bimini is quaint? So much so that there is no place on the island to buy a wetsuit...so it's off to Nassau we go. Most of the trip will be spent sailing in approximately 15 ft of water and s/b stunningly beautiful.
Sue, Al, Sophie & Chelsea
Leaving Boot Key Harbor
We made it! We left Boot Key Harbor on Tuesday afternoon, with Chris Parker's blessing for an easy crossing of the Gulf Stream...and it was gorgeous! We sailed overnight with three other boats (Emerald Seas w/ Jim & Renate, Manatee w/ Rod & Eveline, and Orion w/ Lyle & Julie), arriving in Bimini, Bahamas at approximately 10:00 a.m. And what a crossing it was! Beautifully calm seas with a full moon and a 3-4 knot current zipping us along. Although we motor-sailed most of the way, at one point Al turned off the motor and, with all three sails flying, we flew along at 8 knots. How nice! 
Dawn on the Gulf Stream
The water here is simply not to be believed. There's a reason The Bahamas are known as having the most beautiful waters in the world; absolutely exquisitely clear water with every shade of blue and green imaginable. At one point when we were approaching Bimini, Al asked me what the depth was. When I replied "60 feet," he said "I can see the bottom." Truly breathtakingly beautiful. And so remarkably clear! How fortunate we are to be here.
Weech's Marina in Bimini
Bimini Island is a delightful little community. Very quaint with extraordinarily friendly people. Our group had cocktails last night at the End of the World bar and then went to a little restaurant overlooking the water where we feasted on fresh lobster (at half the price of lobster in the U.S.). Since lobster is my favorite seafood and rum & pineapple juice is my favorite drink...and both are half the price we're used to paying...I'm happy!Our group of four boats (we call ourselves the Moonlighters) is heading off tomorrow for Nassau. It's another overnight sail with the weather forecast not quite as great as it was for the crossing of the Gulf Stream, but it s/b fine. We hadn't initially planned on going to Nassau, thinking we would prefer to visit the less inhabited out islands, anchoring out as much as possible and dinghying around the various islands as opposed to staying at marinas. However, the water here is chillier than we were used to when we snorkeled in the Virgin Islands and our friends have convinced us that we really do need wetsuits to be comfortable. Did I mention that Bimini is quaint? So much so that there is no place on the island to buy a wetsuit...so it's off to Nassau we go. Most of the trip will be spent sailing in approximately 15 ft of water and s/b stunningly beautiful.
Sue in a Bahamian sari (100% cotton, of course!)
We'll keep you posted as to our wanderings whenever possible. We have lost the wi-fi access we had in the states whereby we could use our Sprint "hot spot"to connect to the internet. We now have to go searching for free wi-fi on land (this post was typed in Bimini while sitting on the bench where you see Al sitting below; a rather odd place to find wi-fi but delightful nonetheless), so we may not be able to post to the blogspot as often as we would like. In the meantime, now, more than ever, we truly do wish you could be here with us.
Our new open air "office" offering wi-fi (also known as Bimini's answer to Starbuck's)
Fair Winds from the Crew of Wind DancerSue, Al, Sophie & Chelsea
Monday, February 6, 2012
FINALLY, A GOOD WEATHER WINDOW!
Monday, February 6
Just a quick update (no pics today). We have been anticipating being able to leave for The Bahamas almost every day for the last several days but the weather pattern has been very unusual (according to the experts) and forecasts keep changing. It now appears as if we will be able to leave tomorrow. (The trip will be an overnight sail taking approximately 24 hours total, with arrival planned for mid-day at Bimini on Wednesday.) We will be traveling in the company of three other boats (new friends Jim & Renate on s/v Emerald Seas, Rod & Eveline on s/v Manatee, and one other couple [whom we have not yet met] on s/v Orion). Emerald Seas and Manatee have both made the crossing to The Bahamas before so we're delighted to be in their company.
Our friend Jon Siewers on s/v JonNe drove up from Key West on Saturday for a visit with us. His wife Renne couldn't join him; she's been out of town with her hospitalized daughter recently but the prognosis for her daughter's recovery appears to be good, so we're glad about that. Jon & Renne had initially planned on making the crossing with us but boat maintenance problems have necessitated their staying in Florida for awhile. Hopefully, they'll be able to leave soon. We'll look forward to hooking up with them later in the islands.
Cross your fingers for us for the crossing, folks. We are SO looking forward to getting to The Bahamas and seeing that exquisite water. We'll include lots of photos in the blog once we're there.
Thanks again for following us. We'll keep you posted with any new developments.
Fair Winds from the Crew of Wind Dancer
Sue, Al, Sophie & Chelsea
Just a quick update (no pics today). We have been anticipating being able to leave for The Bahamas almost every day for the last several days but the weather pattern has been very unusual (according to the experts) and forecasts keep changing. It now appears as if we will be able to leave tomorrow. (The trip will be an overnight sail taking approximately 24 hours total, with arrival planned for mid-day at Bimini on Wednesday.) We will be traveling in the company of three other boats (new friends Jim & Renate on s/v Emerald Seas, Rod & Eveline on s/v Manatee, and one other couple [whom we have not yet met] on s/v Orion). Emerald Seas and Manatee have both made the crossing to The Bahamas before so we're delighted to be in their company.
Our friend Jon Siewers on s/v JonNe drove up from Key West on Saturday for a visit with us. His wife Renne couldn't join him; she's been out of town with her hospitalized daughter recently but the prognosis for her daughter's recovery appears to be good, so we're glad about that. Jon & Renne had initially planned on making the crossing with us but boat maintenance problems have necessitated their staying in Florida for awhile. Hopefully, they'll be able to leave soon. We'll look forward to hooking up with them later in the islands.
Cross your fingers for us for the crossing, folks. We are SO looking forward to getting to The Bahamas and seeing that exquisite water. We'll include lots of photos in the blog once we're there.
Thanks again for following us. We'll keep you posted with any new developments.
Fair Winds from the Crew of Wind Dancer
Sue, Al, Sophie & Chelsea
Saturday, January 28, 2012
WE'RE IN BOOT KEY HARBOR AND ONE WEEK AWAY FROM THE BAHAMAS (HOPEFULLY)
Saturday, January 28
Late again in posting to our blog, right? But this time we have an excuse. (Well, we always have an excuse, but this time it's a bona fide good one.) We lost our email capability, both sending and receiving, on Jan. 23 and only got everything working again yesterday. So please excuse our tardiness in keeping you up to speed with our progress. We have added photos this time (yea, Al!) but we haven't quite yet figured out how to caption them (work for another day).
The end of another gorgeous day
That being said, we are getting closer and closer to The Bahamas! Wahoo!! We left Fort Myers Beach last Monday, Jan. 23, and had a gorgeous overnight sail to Boot Key Harbor in the Florida Keys. The wind was 10-15 knots, the largest wave we saw was less than a foot high, and the trip could not have been more perfect (this being a far cry from the leg from Pensacola to Ft. Myers Beach).
We arrived at Boot Key Harbor in Marathon on Tuesday afternoon and anchored just outside, along with several other boats. Boot Key Harbor Marina is an amazing place. It has 286 mooring balls and the protocol is to sign up for one after you arrive. Four days later, we are still anchored but have moved Wind Dancer into the mooring area, which is calmer than where we were initially, and we think our name will reach the top of the list for a mooring either today or tomorrow. Update: we got our mooring! Yea!!! In any case, including the anchored boats, there are well over 300 boats here, most of which are sailboats. Never have we seen so many masts in one place! Many of the people here live aboard year 'round while others, such as ourselves, are transient cruisers who are generally planning trips either to The Bahamas or points south.
One neat feature here is that the marina has a sign-up board where cruisers post where they are going...and when. We have met another couple who is also headed to the Exumas and we'll probably sail with them when we leave here. Right now, that timeline appears to be at the end of this week, at the earliest. For our non-sailing friends: When crossing the Gulf Stream, you have to avoid going whenever there is (or has recently been) a north wind, since the Stream carries a substantial current running north. A north wind going against that current sets up awful seas that would make the crossing to The Bahamas a truly dangerous undertaking. Our first possible "weather window" in which to leave therefore appears to be Thursday. We have enlisted the services of Chris Parker, a weather forecaster of almost godlike renown for sailors in the Caribbean. He not only gives you a daily forecast for the area in which you are sailing but will also (for a very reasonable fee) give personalized travel itineraries. You tell him where you want to sail to and he tells you what day is best to leave and what weather conditions to anticipate along the way (wind, wave height, etc.). He gives you the exact waypoints along the route to your destination as well. It's a great service to be able to take advantage of when sailing in unfamiliar territory and we are delighted to have found him.
Other than the above, no real news. Oh, yes! We found a used spinnaker in excellent condition that fits our boat (at a wonderful price!) so we're ready for light winds whenever they show themselves. Hopefully we'll be able to get a photo of Wind Dancer flying her spinnaker one of these days and will post it on the blog. (The folks that sold us the spinnaker had posted the listing on the board at Boot Key Harbor. When they found out that we didn't have a car, they brought the spinnaker to the marina for us and afterward they even took us to Home Depot to pick up a couple of things. How nice! Thank you, Dan & Linda! The boating community is truly unlike anything we have ever experienced. Everyone is so incredibly helpful. And since you already share a major interest with everyone you meet (boats!), conversations are easily begun, leading to easy friendships.
Speaking of friendships, we have been invited to join some other folks on their boat this afternoon, so we're getting ready to head out.
Fair Winds from the Crew of Wind Dancer
Sue, Al, Sophie & Chelsea
Several photos follow (we'll get better at this, folks)
Late again in posting to our blog, right? But this time we have an excuse. (Well, we always have an excuse, but this time it's a bona fide good one.) We lost our email capability, both sending and receiving, on Jan. 23 and only got everything working again yesterday. So please excuse our tardiness in keeping you up to speed with our progress. We have added photos this time (yea, Al!) but we haven't quite yet figured out how to caption them (work for another day).
And the water only gets better from here on out.
Dinghying in to Boot Key Harbor Marina
The view from the galley port (window to you land lubbers)
Other than the above, no real news. Oh, yes! We found a used spinnaker in excellent condition that fits our boat (at a wonderful price!) so we're ready for light winds whenever they show themselves. Hopefully we'll be able to get a photo of Wind Dancer flying her spinnaker one of these days and will post it on the blog. (The folks that sold us the spinnaker had posted the listing on the board at Boot Key Harbor. When they found out that we didn't have a car, they brought the spinnaker to the marina for us and afterward they even took us to Home Depot to pick up a couple of things. How nice! Thank you, Dan & Linda! The boating community is truly unlike anything we have ever experienced. Everyone is so incredibly helpful. And since you already share a major interest with everyone you meet (boats!), conversations are easily begun, leading to easy friendships.
Speaking of friendships, we have been invited to join some other folks on their boat this afternoon, so we're getting ready to head out.
"Is that land I see?" Glory be, it is!
Thanks once again for following us. We'll post again as soon as something cool happens. In the meantime,Fair Winds from the Crew of Wind Dancer
Sue, Al, Sophie & Chelsea
Several photos follow (we'll get better at this, folks)
Chelsea recovering after a hard day of dolphin watching! (It's exhausting work.)
Sophie checking out the neighbors (she thinks every boat has a cat on it...and she loves cats!)
Two little sailors begging for a dinghy ride
Home sweet home
Another view of our living/dining room
Our favorite place to kick back and have a glass of wine at the end of the day. Wish you were here!
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
HOW TIME FLIES....
Tuesday, January 17
Holy cow, I hadn't realized how long it has been since we last posted to our blog! Thanks go to all of you who wrote to us (primarily to ascertain whether or not we were still alive). Yes, all is currently well...but we had a rough go of it for awhile. During the really rough trip over to Fort Myers Beach from Pensacola coming across the Gulf, we took on a lot of water over the bow and, unbeknownst to us, we had a leak on the forward port deck at the chainplate, which allowed water to enter the boat...right into the bottom of the mattress. The black mold continued to expand until one day we realized how sick I (Sue) had become. Al had started showing symptoms first, with what he thought was a cold & sore throat. Sue, being leery of catching Al's cold, opted to sleep on the settee in the saloon area and was semi-ok there. However, once she decided that Al was probably no longer contagious, she hopped back into bed with him, only to find that she could barely swallow the next morning. Still thinking that it was a cold (or possibly breathing the air from the "red tide" that had recently inundated the Fort Myers area), she persevered, only to begin having huge coughing attacks and a bacterial infection that developed in her lymph glands in her throat. When we FINALLY got smart and lifted up the mattress, it was amazing to see the mold that had been growing underneath us while we slept. We got the mattress off the boat and we got Sue off the boat (along with a dose of antibiotics), driving her to the Florida Keys to a little motel where she stayed for three days, taking cortisone and breathing much better air. Today she is on the mend (the mattress is toast), Al has cleaned the interior of the boat of mold, and he is now in the process of re-caulking the teak decking to seal off any leaks (a really difficult and messy business that takes a lot of practice to do well...but he is fast becoming a pro at it and the newly caulked area looks wonderful!)
In any case, the above is only one of many reasons we have continued staying in the Fort Myers area. We have enjoyed being able to spend some time with Al's older brother, Jim, and his love, Phyllis. Also, Al's younger brother, Glenn, and his wife, LeeAnn, arrived yesterday from Erie to spend several months down here in their new home, getting away from dreary Erie's wintry days, so it will be great fun getting to spend some time with them as well. Jack & Tatiana on Pashka (who we "buddy boated" with from Pensacola) have today left us and are heading to the Dry Tortugas and Fort Jefferson (a day's sail west from Key West, FL). Our understanding is that it is gorgeous there and the snorkeling is phenomenal. We hope to get there one day. In the meantime, Al's feverishly working on caulking and sanding the deck (which he secretly loves doing). We want to get it done before we do any additional sailing where we might once again encounter less than optimal weather. The current plan (and we have found that any of our plans are only good for one day at a time) is to leave Fort Myers either at the end of this week or the beginning of next and to sail down to Marathon in the Florida Keys, staying briefly at Boot Key Harbor, which has a huge mooring field and is loaded with other cruising sailors such as ourselves. We then plan on sailing to The Bahamas where Sue's son, Mark, his wife, Citlali, and their one-year-old little one, Roman, will be joining us in late February. Due to Roman's recent spurt of activity (we understand he is crawling like a demon and is close to walking), Mark & Citlali have opted to find a place on land to stay (once we can tell them where to start looking!) and day sail with us rather than stay aboard full time. We therefore want to get to The Bahamas as soon as possible so that we can get the lay of the land, at least to the point of figuring out where we might best be able to hook up with them on a daily basis. Right now, having never been to The Bahamas, it doesn't appear to be an easy task. We don't even know what island to send them to! Ah, well. These things have a way of working themselves out and we think we'll all have a ball.
Once again, thanks to all of you who have inquired as to whether or not we were still alive and kicking; we really appreciate your following our progress (such as it's been lately). We'll try to be better at keeping you up to date in future postings. Until then,
Fair Winds from the Crew of Wind Dancer
Sue, Al, Sophie & Chelsea
Holy cow, I hadn't realized how long it has been since we last posted to our blog! Thanks go to all of you who wrote to us (primarily to ascertain whether or not we were still alive). Yes, all is currently well...but we had a rough go of it for awhile. During the really rough trip over to Fort Myers Beach from Pensacola coming across the Gulf, we took on a lot of water over the bow and, unbeknownst to us, we had a leak on the forward port deck at the chainplate, which allowed water to enter the boat...right into the bottom of the mattress. The black mold continued to expand until one day we realized how sick I (Sue) had become. Al had started showing symptoms first, with what he thought was a cold & sore throat. Sue, being leery of catching Al's cold, opted to sleep on the settee in the saloon area and was semi-ok there. However, once she decided that Al was probably no longer contagious, she hopped back into bed with him, only to find that she could barely swallow the next morning. Still thinking that it was a cold (or possibly breathing the air from the "red tide" that had recently inundated the Fort Myers area), she persevered, only to begin having huge coughing attacks and a bacterial infection that developed in her lymph glands in her throat. When we FINALLY got smart and lifted up the mattress, it was amazing to see the mold that had been growing underneath us while we slept. We got the mattress off the boat and we got Sue off the boat (along with a dose of antibiotics), driving her to the Florida Keys to a little motel where she stayed for three days, taking cortisone and breathing much better air. Today she is on the mend (the mattress is toast), Al has cleaned the interior of the boat of mold, and he is now in the process of re-caulking the teak decking to seal off any leaks (a really difficult and messy business that takes a lot of practice to do well...but he is fast becoming a pro at it and the newly caulked area looks wonderful!)
In any case, the above is only one of many reasons we have continued staying in the Fort Myers area. We have enjoyed being able to spend some time with Al's older brother, Jim, and his love, Phyllis. Also, Al's younger brother, Glenn, and his wife, LeeAnn, arrived yesterday from Erie to spend several months down here in their new home, getting away from dreary Erie's wintry days, so it will be great fun getting to spend some time with them as well. Jack & Tatiana on Pashka (who we "buddy boated" with from Pensacola) have today left us and are heading to the Dry Tortugas and Fort Jefferson (a day's sail west from Key West, FL). Our understanding is that it is gorgeous there and the snorkeling is phenomenal. We hope to get there one day. In the meantime, Al's feverishly working on caulking and sanding the deck (which he secretly loves doing). We want to get it done before we do any additional sailing where we might once again encounter less than optimal weather. The current plan (and we have found that any of our plans are only good for one day at a time) is to leave Fort Myers either at the end of this week or the beginning of next and to sail down to Marathon in the Florida Keys, staying briefly at Boot Key Harbor, which has a huge mooring field and is loaded with other cruising sailors such as ourselves. We then plan on sailing to The Bahamas where Sue's son, Mark, his wife, Citlali, and their one-year-old little one, Roman, will be joining us in late February. Due to Roman's recent spurt of activity (we understand he is crawling like a demon and is close to walking), Mark & Citlali have opted to find a place on land to stay (once we can tell them where to start looking!) and day sail with us rather than stay aboard full time. We therefore want to get to The Bahamas as soon as possible so that we can get the lay of the land, at least to the point of figuring out where we might best be able to hook up with them on a daily basis. Right now, having never been to The Bahamas, it doesn't appear to be an easy task. We don't even know what island to send them to! Ah, well. These things have a way of working themselves out and we think we'll all have a ball.
Once again, thanks to all of you who have inquired as to whether or not we were still alive and kicking; we really appreciate your following our progress (such as it's been lately). We'll try to be better at keeping you up to date in future postings. Until then,
Fair Winds from the Crew of Wind Dancer
Sue, Al, Sophie & Chelsea
Saturday, December 17, 2011
THE SHAKEDOWN CRUISE FROM HELL
December 17, 2011
Where to begin...
Since we last posted our progress, much has happened. We spent a really nice, relatively uneventful week in Pensacola with Jack & Tatiana and friends, during which time we were referred to a guy who does great work on inflatables. He fixed the leak on our wonderful (but old and leaky) dinghy that Al had been battling for over two years and, for the first time, we had a great, seaworthy, airtight dinghy. Wahoo! How nice! And just in time for our trip down the Florida coast. We left Pensacola on Friday, December 9, "buddy boating" with Jack & Tatiana on Pashka for what was to be a two-day, two-night trip across the tip of the Gulf of Mexico from Pensacola to Clearwater. We checked with three weather services, all of which gave us a favorable weather window of a northwest wind (perfect, since we would be sailing southeast to Clearwater and would have the wind behind us, helping our progress) along with calm seas alternating between 1-2 feet and 3-4 feet and winds of 10-15 mph. Again, perfect, right? DON'T EVER, EVER BELIEVE THE WEATHER FORECAST! Holy cow! We left Pensacola with a north wind, expecting it to turn northwest. Instead, it turned northeast (where it stayed), the wind speed increased to 20-25 mph and the waves increased to 6-8 ft. After a long night at sea, things got worse. The wind increased to 30 mph and the waves increased to 10-12 ft with the wind edging even more easterly, coming at us from the ENE. The end result was that we were driven further and further south, away from the Florida coastline and into the Gulf. On Day Two we lost our dinghy (which we had been towing, thinking that we would have a fairly calm sail). We retrieved it (what a tough time that was) and reattached it, only to lose it again the following day. Once again we retrieved it but had a much tougher time tying it to Wind Dancer since some of the holding points on the dinghy that we could attach lines to had ripped off. Later that day, we lost her for the third (and last) time. Unable to secure her to Wind Dancer, we had to continue sailing without her. However, we're sure she'll make some Cubans happy when she washes up on the western tip of Cuba (which is where we were headed when we lost her). In any case, losing her was a significant loss for us.
Continuing on. The end result is that we had to sail virtually due south for two straight days and nights until the wind and waves eased up enough for us to set an easterly course. By then we were due west of Fort Myers, where Al's brother lives, so off went Pashka and Wind Dancer toward Fort Myers. We arrived there on Tuesday, Dec. 13, after another two days and nights, bringing our total time at sea to four days & nights. God, did it feel good to arrive in port! Everything on board was soggy and we were absolutely exhausted. But we made it! And what troopers Sophie & Chelsea turned out to be. They stayed with us in the cockpit for virtually all of the trip, soaking wet and shivering, but determined to tough it out with us. What a joy these little creatures are.
As to why you haven't heard from us before now, while at sea we lost our standard lines of communication, including cell phones and email. In fact, we were just able to get our email back online yesterday. So thanks for bearing with us. We're so sorry that so many of you were worried about us. We're fine (just pooped but almost recovered) and are presently at a great marina by the name of Salty Sam's in Fort Myers where we think we'll hang out for at least a couple of weeks, including Christmas, before heading for the Dry Tortugas and Key West. We found a used Achilles (top of the line) dinghy for a really good price (Merry Christmas, Sue & Al!) and, although she's small, we're delighted with her. She's light enough that we can fold her up and bring her on board, lashing her down on deck when sailing in seas that we feel are too heavy for towing to be appropriate. (We are not about to lose another dinghy to wind and waves!) By being able to carry her topside, we can avoid the expense of having to add dinghy davits to Wind Dancer. We think we're pretty well set for going forward at this point but are enjoying being able to spend some downtime with Jim & Phyllis here in Fort Myers Beach, as well as with Jack & Tatiana, and being able to take the time to clean up the boat (and us! holy cow, the laundry!).
We truly do wish all of you were here with us. If we don't talk with you before then, have a wonderful Christmas. We'll try not to let so much time go by before our next post. Thanks for hanging in with us!
Sue, Al, Sophie & Chelsea
The Crew of Wind Dancer
Where to begin...
Since we last posted our progress, much has happened. We spent a really nice, relatively uneventful week in Pensacola with Jack & Tatiana and friends, during which time we were referred to a guy who does great work on inflatables. He fixed the leak on our wonderful (but old and leaky) dinghy that Al had been battling for over two years and, for the first time, we had a great, seaworthy, airtight dinghy. Wahoo! How nice! And just in time for our trip down the Florida coast. We left Pensacola on Friday, December 9, "buddy boating" with Jack & Tatiana on Pashka for what was to be a two-day, two-night trip across the tip of the Gulf of Mexico from Pensacola to Clearwater. We checked with three weather services, all of which gave us a favorable weather window of a northwest wind (perfect, since we would be sailing southeast to Clearwater and would have the wind behind us, helping our progress) along with calm seas alternating between 1-2 feet and 3-4 feet and winds of 10-15 mph. Again, perfect, right? DON'T EVER, EVER BELIEVE THE WEATHER FORECAST! Holy cow! We left Pensacola with a north wind, expecting it to turn northwest. Instead, it turned northeast (where it stayed), the wind speed increased to 20-25 mph and the waves increased to 6-8 ft. After a long night at sea, things got worse. The wind increased to 30 mph and the waves increased to 10-12 ft with the wind edging even more easterly, coming at us from the ENE. The end result was that we were driven further and further south, away from the Florida coastline and into the Gulf. On Day Two we lost our dinghy (which we had been towing, thinking that we would have a fairly calm sail). We retrieved it (what a tough time that was) and reattached it, only to lose it again the following day. Once again we retrieved it but had a much tougher time tying it to Wind Dancer since some of the holding points on the dinghy that we could attach lines to had ripped off. Later that day, we lost her for the third (and last) time. Unable to secure her to Wind Dancer, we had to continue sailing without her. However, we're sure she'll make some Cubans happy when she washes up on the western tip of Cuba (which is where we were headed when we lost her). In any case, losing her was a significant loss for us.
Continuing on. The end result is that we had to sail virtually due south for two straight days and nights until the wind and waves eased up enough for us to set an easterly course. By then we were due west of Fort Myers, where Al's brother lives, so off went Pashka and Wind Dancer toward Fort Myers. We arrived there on Tuesday, Dec. 13, after another two days and nights, bringing our total time at sea to four days & nights. God, did it feel good to arrive in port! Everything on board was soggy and we were absolutely exhausted. But we made it! And what troopers Sophie & Chelsea turned out to be. They stayed with us in the cockpit for virtually all of the trip, soaking wet and shivering, but determined to tough it out with us. What a joy these little creatures are.
As to why you haven't heard from us before now, while at sea we lost our standard lines of communication, including cell phones and email. In fact, we were just able to get our email back online yesterday. So thanks for bearing with us. We're so sorry that so many of you were worried about us. We're fine (just pooped but almost recovered) and are presently at a great marina by the name of Salty Sam's in Fort Myers where we think we'll hang out for at least a couple of weeks, including Christmas, before heading for the Dry Tortugas and Key West. We found a used Achilles (top of the line) dinghy for a really good price (Merry Christmas, Sue & Al!) and, although she's small, we're delighted with her. She's light enough that we can fold her up and bring her on board, lashing her down on deck when sailing in seas that we feel are too heavy for towing to be appropriate. (We are not about to lose another dinghy to wind and waves!) By being able to carry her topside, we can avoid the expense of having to add dinghy davits to Wind Dancer. We think we're pretty well set for going forward at this point but are enjoying being able to spend some downtime with Jim & Phyllis here in Fort Myers Beach, as well as with Jack & Tatiana, and being able to take the time to clean up the boat (and us! holy cow, the laundry!).
We truly do wish all of you were here with us. If we don't talk with you before then, have a wonderful Christmas. We'll try not to let so much time go by before our next post. Thanks for hanging in with us!
Sue, Al, Sophie & Chelsea
The Crew of Wind Dancer
Friday, December 2, 2011
WE'RE IN PENSACOLA!
Well, we made it to Mobile Bay Tuesday p.m. and anchored just north of Dauphin Island (a chilly sail day...turning on the generator & the heaters that night felt really good). The next morning, after a somewhat rolly night and five minutes after pulling up anchor and setting out for Pensacola, we had a major engine overheating problem and Al spent the next four hours replacing the impeller (that had basically disintegrated). While he was doing this, the wind was blowing us south (toward the ICW) at a rate of approximately one knot/hour which turned out to be exactly what we needed to arrive at the ICW with perfect timing to continue on our way. After starting the engine (which no longer smoked and sent alarm bells clanging....Thank you, Al!) and letting it warm up, off we went. We stayed overnight at a great marina called Marina on the Wharf (we know a lot of this means nothing to you, kind reader, but it's a great log for us for the return trip to plan on where to overnight or, in some cases, not to). The next morning, Thursday, we slept in, had a leisurely morning, and then set off for the short hop to Pensacola, arriving just before sundown and in time for docktails on Pashka with Jack & Tatiana and their friends Doug & Shirley, also owners of an Island Packet. Nice folks! The six of us had dinner ashore and turned in early for a great night's sleep. Tatiana (a serious walker who at one time competed in the Olympics as a biathlete) has promised to take Sue on a "walk" around Pensacola (get ready, legs!). An absolutely gorgeous day is forecast: bountiful sunshine with a high in the upper 60s. Nice!
We'll be in Pensacola for a few days (maybe as long as a week) tending to some minor engine work and having a tear in our jib mended. Then Pashka will join Wind Dancer for the trip south, "buddy boating" (which will be nice for the longer offshore legs that we plan on doing). We'll skirt along the Gulf Coast of Florida with several offshore hops, necessitated by the fact that many of Florida's bridges have fixed heights that are too low for our boat to pass under (stopping off at Fort Myers Beach to visit Jim [Al's brother] and Phyllis] and then head for the Dry Tortugas & Fort Jefferson (and great snorkeling in turquoise waters) before continuing on to Key West.
All for now. We'll keep you posted. Thanks once again for following us! (Al is promising to post pics today on our blog. We'll see.)
All for now. We'll keep you posted.
Monday, November 28, 2011
A WET, WILD & CHILLY RIDE
Monday, November 27
Well, once again, plans changed. After remembering that there was a Whole Foods Market in New Orleans, we rethought the French Quarter idea and opted for a taxi ride to Whole Foods instead, thinking that having great food onboard for the next week was probably a better option than enjoying one great meal onshore. Once back on board, we turned in fairly early and headed out Sunday morning for Gulfport, MS. The weather forecast (why do we ever believe these guys?) called for moderate winds and cloudy skies in the afternoon but nothing more earth shattering. Instead, we had 25-30 mph winds on the beam as we crossed a large lake with some fairly decent chop, giving us a great 8-9 knot sail. Great, that is, until we had to turn 90 degrees to port to enter a really long (miles long) channel into Gulfport. At that point, we had 30-mph winds "on the nose" and had to slog our way into port with waves crashing over the bow, soaking us in the cockpit. Sue, at the helm, developed a "windshield wiper" routine, clearing her glasses after each soaking by wiping her (very wet) gloves on her jeans to dry them enough to then wipe the water off her glasses in order to see (until the next wave). And it was drizzling, to boot. (Not, of course, forecast.) We were a cold, wet, sorry looking crew (Sophie & Chelsea included) as we pulled into the Gulfport Yacht Club (found by accident, gratefully, as we were on our way to another marina farther up the channel). The folks at the yacht club were great and, boy, did it feel good to plug into power at the dock, turn on the heaters and begin to thaw/dry out. Upon waking up this morning, we have decided to stay in port today and let our clothes (still damp) completely dry out before continuing on with our next leg, to Mobile, AL, on Tuesday. (Besides that, we're still a little pooped and a day to rest up sounds really good. If nothing else, we have cemented our feeling that we're not cut from the cloth of whatever it takes to be circumnavigators. Too hard on the old body.) Wednesday should find us in Pensacola where we will link up for a few days with our good friends Jack & Tatiana on s/v Pashka. (Jack & Tatiana live on board their lovely Island Packet and are on their way to the Dominican Republic, having stopped off to visit friends in Pensacola; we have known each other since the days when we were all at Clear Lake at Waterford Harbor and it will be great fun to see them again.)
One good note re yesterday's sail: Chelsea finally found her dolphins. After spending every day for the last two weeks hanging over the side looking for dolphins (which Chelsea considers to be her job, taking it very seriously), finally...DOLPHINS!!! We had two very happy dogs for awhile...wet and cold but joyfully barking away at dolphins, who seem to enjoy the attention.
In any case, that's the latest, folks. 'Til next time....
The Crew of Wind Dancer
Well, once again, plans changed. After remembering that there was a Whole Foods Market in New Orleans, we rethought the French Quarter idea and opted for a taxi ride to Whole Foods instead, thinking that having great food onboard for the next week was probably a better option than enjoying one great meal onshore. Once back on board, we turned in fairly early and headed out Sunday morning for Gulfport, MS. The weather forecast (why do we ever believe these guys?) called for moderate winds and cloudy skies in the afternoon but nothing more earth shattering. Instead, we had 25-30 mph winds on the beam as we crossed a large lake with some fairly decent chop, giving us a great 8-9 knot sail. Great, that is, until we had to turn 90 degrees to port to enter a really long (miles long) channel into Gulfport. At that point, we had 30-mph winds "on the nose" and had to slog our way into port with waves crashing over the bow, soaking us in the cockpit. Sue, at the helm, developed a "windshield wiper" routine, clearing her glasses after each soaking by wiping her (very wet) gloves on her jeans to dry them enough to then wipe the water off her glasses in order to see (until the next wave). And it was drizzling, to boot. (Not, of course, forecast.) We were a cold, wet, sorry looking crew (Sophie & Chelsea included) as we pulled into the Gulfport Yacht Club (found by accident, gratefully, as we were on our way to another marina farther up the channel). The folks at the yacht club were great and, boy, did it feel good to plug into power at the dock, turn on the heaters and begin to thaw/dry out. Upon waking up this morning, we have decided to stay in port today and let our clothes (still damp) completely dry out before continuing on with our next leg, to Mobile, AL, on Tuesday. (Besides that, we're still a little pooped and a day to rest up sounds really good. If nothing else, we have cemented our feeling that we're not cut from the cloth of whatever it takes to be circumnavigators. Too hard on the old body.) Wednesday should find us in Pensacola where we will link up for a few days with our good friends Jack & Tatiana on s/v Pashka. (Jack & Tatiana live on board their lovely Island Packet and are on their way to the Dominican Republic, having stopped off to visit friends in Pensacola; we have known each other since the days when we were all at Clear Lake at Waterford Harbor and it will be great fun to see them again.)
One good note re yesterday's sail: Chelsea finally found her dolphins. After spending every day for the last two weeks hanging over the side looking for dolphins (which Chelsea considers to be her job, taking it very seriously), finally...DOLPHINS!!! We had two very happy dogs for awhile...wet and cold but joyfully barking away at dolphins, who seem to enjoy the attention.
In any case, that's the latest, folks. 'Til next time....
The Crew of Wind Dancer
Saturday, November 26, 2011
THE DOCK FROM HELL
Saturday, November 26
We almost made it to New Orleans yesterday...but not quite. Instead, we decided to dock just prior to the Harvey Lock in New Orleans at the Boomtown Casino for an onshore meal. The waterway guide states that Boomtown "allows visitors to tie up along the bulkhead" and that "the casino welcomes visiting boaters." It also states that you should "have some robust fenders in place to guard against contacting the steel walls of the bulkhead." Boy, howdy, are they right! (What they neglected to mention was the multitude of rebar pipes sticking out of the steel & concrete bulkhead at all angles. What a nightmare!) Fortunately, a tugboat operator tied up nearby saw our plight (as in how to get the boat close enough to the bulkhead so Al could jump off while at the same time not having Wind Dancer impaled on rebar) and we were able to throw some lines to him to get tied up. Whew! In any case, we made it, had a nice dinner, and this morning we took off, transiting the multitude of locks & bridges that it takes to get through New Orleans and across the mighty Mississippi. We are currently at a nice little marina (Seabrook Harbor) just south of Lake Pontchartrain waiting for a front with a large area of thunderstorms to come through this evening and throughout the night. With the French Quarter only a ten minute taxi ride away, we're going to treat ourselves to some Louisiana cookin', a Bloody Mary or two and some great jazz before calling it a night. Wish you were here!
Tonight's low is supposed to be 60 degrees...which is also tomorrow's forecast high. Yuck. Then we're expecting the lows to be in the 30s for the next four days with highs in the 50s. Chilly sailing but, with the wind behind us, it shouldn't be too bad. We'll keep you posted. 'Til next time....
We almost made it to New Orleans yesterday...but not quite. Instead, we decided to dock just prior to the Harvey Lock in New Orleans at the Boomtown Casino for an onshore meal. The waterway guide states that Boomtown "allows visitors to tie up along the bulkhead" and that "the casino welcomes visiting boaters." It also states that you should "have some robust fenders in place to guard against contacting the steel walls of the bulkhead." Boy, howdy, are they right! (What they neglected to mention was the multitude of rebar pipes sticking out of the steel & concrete bulkhead at all angles. What a nightmare!) Fortunately, a tugboat operator tied up nearby saw our plight (as in how to get the boat close enough to the bulkhead so Al could jump off while at the same time not having Wind Dancer impaled on rebar) and we were able to throw some lines to him to get tied up. Whew! In any case, we made it, had a nice dinner, and this morning we took off, transiting the multitude of locks & bridges that it takes to get through New Orleans and across the mighty Mississippi. We are currently at a nice little marina (Seabrook Harbor) just south of Lake Pontchartrain waiting for a front with a large area of thunderstorms to come through this evening and throughout the night. With the French Quarter only a ten minute taxi ride away, we're going to treat ourselves to some Louisiana cookin', a Bloody Mary or two and some great jazz before calling it a night. Wish you were here!
Tonight's low is supposed to be 60 degrees...which is also tomorrow's forecast high. Yuck. Then we're expecting the lows to be in the 30s for the next four days with highs in the 50s. Chilly sailing but, with the wind behind us, it shouldn't be too bad. We'll keep you posted. 'Til next time....
Thursday, November 24, 2011
ONCE AGAIN, THE BEST LAID PLANS....
Thursday, November 24
Instead of putting in our usual 65 miles, we instead took a short hop to Houma, LA, today and are staying overnight at the city docks, primarily to refill our water tanks. What a delightful place! The dock is adjacent to a small park with colorful flowerbeds and grass for "the blondes" (as my son calls Sophie & Chelsea) to run. The waterway guidebook describes this dockage as "truly Southern hospitality at its best." With that kind of a write-up, how could we not stay here?
Tomorrow will find us heading toward New Orleans with current plans to anchor somewhere just west of the city and probably stay put until Sunday waiting for the forecast front/thunderstorms to pass. If anything exciting happens, we'll keep you posted. Until then, hoping you had a really nice Thanksgiving....
The Crew of Wind Dancer
Instead of putting in our usual 65 miles, we instead took a short hop to Houma, LA, today and are staying overnight at the city docks, primarily to refill our water tanks. What a delightful place! The dock is adjacent to a small park with colorful flowerbeds and grass for "the blondes" (as my son calls Sophie & Chelsea) to run. The waterway guidebook describes this dockage as "truly Southern hospitality at its best." With that kind of a write-up, how could we not stay here?
Tomorrow will find us heading toward New Orleans with current plans to anchor somewhere just west of the city and probably stay put until Sunday waiting for the forecast front/thunderstorms to pass. If anything exciting happens, we'll keep you posted. Until then, hoping you had a really nice Thanksgiving....
The Crew of Wind Dancer
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Wednesday, November 23
Well, we did finally find a place to anchor last Sunday. However, it was in a little nook right at the edge of the ICW and we lit our spreader lights as well as our anchor light to ensure that all passing tows/barges knew we were there. That being said, we then slept like rocks. I don't know whether it's the constant isometrics involved in just balancing yourself in the cockpit all day or what, but Al and I (always night owls) have become early-to-bedders who sleep the sleep of the dead. Morning finds us weighing anchor at 6:30 and heading out for the day's (average) 65 miles.
Interestingly, who knew that you would actually see the colors of fall foliage while sailing through Lousiana swampland in November? It's not quite the same as Bucks County, PA, in October but, nonetheless, it's still very pretty. (We have yet to see an alligator.)
We spent Monday & Tuesday nights at a place called Shell Morgan Landing (lousy weather, forecast for Tuesday, in fact did hit, so we hunkered down). With this exception, since leaving Galveston the weather has been absolutely glorious, with highs in the low- to mid-80s and lows in the low 60s. All good things, however, must come to an end...and our end is in sight. Tomorrow (Thanksgiving) and Friday are set to be gorgeous days. However, Saturday we're slated for scattered thunderstorms, followed by a low of 37 degrees (brrrr!) and a high of 57 (brrrr again) on Sunday. Unfortunately, the following 10 days will be more of the same: lows in the low 40s (as in 40-41) and highs in the mid-50s. Florida can't come soon enough. (After repeated delays, our friends Daren & Nancy on s/v Flying Dogs have decided to head directly south from Rockport to Mexico en route to their final destination of Costa Rica rather than join us on the ICW to the Florida Keys. One of their determining factors was that they don't have a generator and one of Nancy's goals is to never be cold again. Nancy, be glad you didn't come with us!)
Back to Louisiana. We are currently anchored about ten miles southeast of Morgan City. We had planned on staying at the public docks at Morgan City; however, the strong creosote smell at the docks made Sue so sick that we couldn't stay. It's just as well. We've found that we actually enjoy spending the night "on the hook" more than we do at a dock. (Which is just as well, since that's what we'll be doing the majority of the time once we get to the Bahamas, Virgin Islands, etc.) One interesting side note: upon leaving the public docks at Morgan City, we took a wrong turn and headed away from the ICW. By the time we realized our mistake, we had successfully, albeit very, very slowly, taken Wind Dancer (who has a 53' mast) under a 49' bridge. Now that's excitement! (And magic! Lord only knows how we did it.)
Friday could find us in New Orleans, where we're tempted to hang out, drinking Bloody Marys and eating gumbo while waiting for Saturday's weather to pass. However, we think we can make it past New Orleans a little ways, so that's probably what we're going to do. Come time for bad weather, we'll anchor out, Sue will bake some bread and perhaps some shortbread cookies, we'll watch a jillion episodes of Boston Legal on DVD, maybe get some reading in, and life will be good. It has been so far. Fair winds, friends. More later.
Well, we did finally find a place to anchor last Sunday. However, it was in a little nook right at the edge of the ICW and we lit our spreader lights as well as our anchor light to ensure that all passing tows/barges knew we were there. That being said, we then slept like rocks. I don't know whether it's the constant isometrics involved in just balancing yourself in the cockpit all day or what, but Al and I (always night owls) have become early-to-bedders who sleep the sleep of the dead. Morning finds us weighing anchor at 6:30 and heading out for the day's (average) 65 miles.
Interestingly, who knew that you would actually see the colors of fall foliage while sailing through Lousiana swampland in November? It's not quite the same as Bucks County, PA, in October but, nonetheless, it's still very pretty. (We have yet to see an alligator.)
We spent Monday & Tuesday nights at a place called Shell Morgan Landing (lousy weather, forecast for Tuesday, in fact did hit, so we hunkered down). With this exception, since leaving Galveston the weather has been absolutely glorious, with highs in the low- to mid-80s and lows in the low 60s. All good things, however, must come to an end...and our end is in sight. Tomorrow (Thanksgiving) and Friday are set to be gorgeous days. However, Saturday we're slated for scattered thunderstorms, followed by a low of 37 degrees (brrrr!) and a high of 57 (brrrr again) on Sunday. Unfortunately, the following 10 days will be more of the same: lows in the low 40s (as in 40-41) and highs in the mid-50s. Florida can't come soon enough. (After repeated delays, our friends Daren & Nancy on s/v Flying Dogs have decided to head directly south from Rockport to Mexico en route to their final destination of Costa Rica rather than join us on the ICW to the Florida Keys. One of their determining factors was that they don't have a generator and one of Nancy's goals is to never be cold again. Nancy, be glad you didn't come with us!)
Back to Louisiana. We are currently anchored about ten miles southeast of Morgan City. We had planned on staying at the public docks at Morgan City; however, the strong creosote smell at the docks made Sue so sick that we couldn't stay. It's just as well. We've found that we actually enjoy spending the night "on the hook" more than we do at a dock. (Which is just as well, since that's what we'll be doing the majority of the time once we get to the Bahamas, Virgin Islands, etc.) One interesting side note: upon leaving the public docks at Morgan City, we took a wrong turn and headed away from the ICW. By the time we realized our mistake, we had successfully, albeit very, very slowly, taken Wind Dancer (who has a 53' mast) under a 49' bridge. Now that's excitement! (And magic! Lord only knows how we did it.)
Friday could find us in New Orleans, where we're tempted to hang out, drinking Bloody Marys and eating gumbo while waiting for Saturday's weather to pass. However, we think we can make it past New Orleans a little ways, so that's probably what we're going to do. Come time for bad weather, we'll anchor out, Sue will bake some bread and perhaps some shortbread cookies, we'll watch a jillion episodes of Boston Legal on DVD, maybe get some reading in, and life will be good. It has been so far. Fair winds, friends. More later.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
WE'VE MADE IT TO LOUISIANA!
Well, as you can see, still no pics. But we're working on it! All things in good time.
Since Galveston we've stayed on the ICW rather than going offshore...and we're loving it! We spent Friday night anchored just west of Port Arthur and last night we were again at anchor, just south of Lake Charles, LA. This morning we're back on the road (with no idea where we'll be spending the night). The Waterway Guide shows that there is absolutely no good anchorage between where we are and where we'll be come sundown, so wish us luck.
Sophie & Chelsea are proving themselves to be great little sailors. Sophie's funny. She's decided that, rather than go down below for breakfast in the galley after we've started motoring in the morning, she would prefer to take her breakfast in the cockpit. So we bring her bowl topside where she munches contently (and, we assume, gratefully). Neither dog has ever been seasick (at least not to the point of losing their breakfast), so we can only think that breakfast in the cockpit is Sophie's way of continuing with the status quo.
God, this is fun! Thanks once again for following our progress. We'll let you know if anything exciting happens.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
SO MUCH FOR THE BEST LAID PLANS....
Thursday, November 17
Well, just after our last post we found out that sailing buddies Daren & Nancy were to be further delayed so we decided, what the hey, let's beat feet. Unfortunately, we didn't decide to leave Costa Grande (just south of Port O'Connor) until 8:00a.m. Monday, leaving at approximately 9:00. Encountered a wild wind-against-tide wave action exiting the Port O'Connor channel that had us motoring through 10-12 foot waves. Roller coaster stuff. Wahoo!!! After making it through the channel, we had a delightful full day sail offshore to Freeport but, unfortunately, our late departure from Costa Grande put us into Freeport after dark. Never again! Since we had been to Bridge Harbor marina in Freeport several times in the past, we felt fairly comfortable entering the Freeport channel at night. However, we were entering from the south and had always entered from the north before, so it was a little different. No major problems were encountered but your heart is nevertheless in your mouth a few times; night sailing is much tougher to get your bearings than day sailing and we have resolved to be in port prior to sunset from now on.
Thunderstorms came rolling in the next day so we stayed at Bridge Harbor, leaving there for Galveston Wednesday morning. We sailed offshore (gorgeous day!), arriving in Galveston at around 5:00p.m. and immediately went to the fuel dock to top off our fuel tank and where we were met by our wonderful employee, Ernesto, who brought us more Mountain Valley for our trip. Ernesto then ran Sue over to the local grocery store to pick up some fresh veggies. The plan was to then anchor out overnight and take off early in the morning for Port Arthur. Problem: While Sue was at the grocery store, the wind (which had been forecast to increase "late" at night) came roaring in at 30 mph and pinned us to the fuel dock overnight (which is where we sit right now at 7:00a.m. Thursday). Unfortunately, the wind isn't forecast to drop until late afternoon so if we can't find some kind soul to tow our bow off the dock, it looks as if we may spend the majority of the day here. Yuck! Al has just gone ashore to see if the fuel dock folks have any suggestions (or demands, such as "We don't care if you damage your boat. Just get it off our dock!). We'll see. Not the best of situations...but not the worst either. Eventually, we'll be on our way again. We'll keep you posted.
Update. Al just came back to the boat. Fuel dock folks were great. Said boats get pinned to the dock here on a regular basis and not to worry about it. Just sit here as long as needed. Nice!!! We'll probably head for Bolivar (just north of Galveston) late today so that we can get a jump on tomorrow's rather long sail to Port Arthur.
Today may be the day that Al figures out how to transfer our photos to our blog. If so, we'll let you know. Thanks for being our friends and wanting to keep up with our voyaging. We wish we could take all of you with us!
More later.
Well, just after our last post we found out that sailing buddies Daren & Nancy were to be further delayed so we decided, what the hey, let's beat feet. Unfortunately, we didn't decide to leave Costa Grande (just south of Port O'Connor) until 8:00a.m. Monday, leaving at approximately 9:00. Encountered a wild wind-against-tide wave action exiting the Port O'Connor channel that had us motoring through 10-12 foot waves. Roller coaster stuff. Wahoo!!! After making it through the channel, we had a delightful full day sail offshore to Freeport but, unfortunately, our late departure from Costa Grande put us into Freeport after dark. Never again! Since we had been to Bridge Harbor marina in Freeport several times in the past, we felt fairly comfortable entering the Freeport channel at night. However, we were entering from the south and had always entered from the north before, so it was a little different. No major problems were encountered but your heart is nevertheless in your mouth a few times; night sailing is much tougher to get your bearings than day sailing and we have resolved to be in port prior to sunset from now on.
Thunderstorms came rolling in the next day so we stayed at Bridge Harbor, leaving there for Galveston Wednesday morning. We sailed offshore (gorgeous day!), arriving in Galveston at around 5:00p.m. and immediately went to the fuel dock to top off our fuel tank and where we were met by our wonderful employee, Ernesto, who brought us more Mountain Valley for our trip. Ernesto then ran Sue over to the local grocery store to pick up some fresh veggies. The plan was to then anchor out overnight and take off early in the morning for Port Arthur. Problem: While Sue was at the grocery store, the wind (which had been forecast to increase "late" at night) came roaring in at 30 mph and pinned us to the fuel dock overnight (which is where we sit right now at 7:00a.m. Thursday). Unfortunately, the wind isn't forecast to drop until late afternoon so if we can't find some kind soul to tow our bow off the dock, it looks as if we may spend the majority of the day here. Yuck! Al has just gone ashore to see if the fuel dock folks have any suggestions (or demands, such as "We don't care if you damage your boat. Just get it off our dock!). We'll see. Not the best of situations...but not the worst either. Eventually, we'll be on our way again. We'll keep you posted.
Update. Al just came back to the boat. Fuel dock folks were great. Said boats get pinned to the dock here on a regular basis and not to worry about it. Just sit here as long as needed. Nice!!! We'll probably head for Bolivar (just north of Galveston) late today so that we can get a jump on tomorrow's rather long sail to Port Arthur.
Today may be the day that Al figures out how to transfer our photos to our blog. If so, we'll let you know. Thanks for being our friends and wanting to keep up with our voyaging. We wish we could take all of you with us!
More later.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
AND THEY'RE OFF!!!!!!!
Fulton Harbor boating friends Bert & Dixie treated us, our "boat buddies" Daren & Nancy, and another couple who have recently arrived in their boat, Kelly & Darline (who plan on sailing to Australia next year) to a farewell dinner tonight. How nice! Thanks, Bert & Dixie! We'll miss you. (We would show you their pictures but we haven't quite figured out how to operate our new camera just yet. Patience. We'll get there.) We're leaving tomorrow morning, headed for Key West initially, then on to The Bahamas and eventually, hopefully, to our old stomping grounds, the Virgin Islands. The plan is to then return to Fulton Harbor in May or June 2012.
Saturday, November 12
And off we go! We motor sailed up the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway) to Costa Grande, a drop-dead gorgeous little community just south of Port O'Connor with beautiful facilities and floating docks. (We actually have pictures now of both Fulton Harbor and Costa Grande; Al resorted to using his phone to take the pics but at least we have them! Now we just need to figure out how to post them on our blog. Ugh.) Joining us in their boat for the trip from Fulton Harbor to Costa Grande were friends Larry & Sue and Frankie & Sherry. Daren & Nancy came from Fulton by land yacht (car) to join us for dinner, as did Lee & Kate (who drove down from Austin). All of us have boats at Fulton Harbor and have built treasured friendships over the last year. It was great fun to have everyone together. Daren & Nancy, along with their two German Shorthaired Pointers, Pete & Libby, will be joining us in their boat, Flying Dogs, later this week. (They've been held up a little, waiting on their dinghy to arrive, fixing the dinghy motor [that was cracked during shipment)], selling their truck, etc.) In any case, the four of us plan on "buddy boating" together to the Florida Keys. After hanging out there for a little while, we will continue on to The Bahamas while Daren & Nancy head south to Costa Rica. The current plan is for us to take the boats (Wind Dancer and Flying Dogs) offshore from here in "baby steps" rather than head directly across the Gulf of Mexico to Florida. The Gulf can be treacherous and we're just not up for the possibility of running into some strong storms this early in our voyaging, so....instead, we will be sailing offshore from port to port, hugging the coastline and anchoring out each night, so that should bad weather come along, we can duck into a port and hang out until we get a favorable "weather window" to continue sailing. The trip will take a little longer this way but, hey, we're sailing! No complaints!
Sophie & Chelsea are having a ball, barking at dolphins who swim alongside us when we're sailing. Dolphin watching is exhausting work and the dogs are sacked out by early evening.
Actually, we're all pooped. More later. Good night.
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