Northbound to Daytona

An early start on Friday morning had me running to the grocery store, and returning the rental car. All this before 8:30 when we we on our way. We passed a ton of wildlife on our way .... manatee, lots of dolphins, and even flamingoes. It is surprising to have a big pink bird fly past your boat!

Just south of Daytona, we heard a boat call for help from SeaTow, a marine towing company. As we neared, we could see that they were hard aground, and the tug that came to help was only successful in helping to level the boat, so they weren't on such an angle. Regardless, it seemed like it would be a stressful couple of hours before the tide came up again to float them.
At 4:15, we put the anchor down in Daytona Beach, and launched the dinghy so we could meet up with my parents for dinner. We found them flying kites with a local at a park on the water's edge. Before we headed to the restaurant, another boat had grounded not too far from where we were anchored. Wow! These guys should check their charts more carefully!
Dinner was at the nearby marina, which had a marine-themed restaurant. Many aquariums graced the walls, the plexiglass table tops were lit from within with bubble motifs, and the menus lit up when you opened them. There was live music, and we escaped the threatening rain at just the right time. By the time we were finished, the clouds had passed, and we had a few more minutes of light to fly kites again before heading back to Cee Jem.

Here's Greg helping Madeline fly a 2-line kite, and just to the left of them, you can see Cee Jem anchored on the far side of the canal.

Fun in Orlando

Disney was lots of fun. We spent Tuesday at the Magic Kingdom, taking in the joy of Main Street, the thrill of Space Mountain, and the fun of Splash Mountain. We filled our day on rides, browsing in shops and remembering previous visits to Disney.

Wednesday we had a chance to enjoy the house. The pool was a definite highlight for the girls. That, along with the games room, Wii, and TV's in each of their rooms meant that there was no shortage of entertainment for them. That gave us a chance to catch up with my parents on news from home and relax ourselves a little bit.

Thursday we headed back to Disney to take in Animal Kingdom. It was very busy, which made for long lines and crowded attractions, but we didn't let that ruin our day. The safari tour allowed us to see a whole different habitat of animals than those we've seen on this trip, and the girls enjoyed every minute of it.
After leaving the park, we headed back to the house for a last swim, and to pack up before heading back to Titusville. We arrived at the boat with two very sleepy girls and once we had unpacked the car, all headed to bed.

Off to See the Mouse!!

Made it to Titusville on Sunday night.
Met up with my parents, and Jon and Marie from Hunky Dory. Spent a great afternoon catching up and reminiscing. Then a great dinner out.
Monday we headed inland, to a rental house just south of Disney.
And now ..... off to see the mouse!

Our Days in Vero Beach

Our days here can be summed up in one word: Relaxing!

The beach is within walking distance, the showers are nice and the hot water plentiful, there is a free shuttle bus to town. We have enjoyed it all during the last couple of days.
We have chatted with many cruisers that we have seen along the way, some from the Exumas, some from the northern Bahamas, and some that have stayed here in Vero all winter.
Everybody's thoughts are turning to summer. Many are taking their boats home, seldom as far north as we are going; most though, are finding a spot to put their boats to rest for the summer, leaving them in a marina in the southern US, and driving back north to see friends, grandchildren and their summer home.
We too are headed north tomorrow, taking a couple of days to get to Titusville where we will meet my parents for a visit.

Rigamarole

Monday's job was to get ourselves to Ft. Pierce to check in with Customs. We had called in from Vero once we set foot on land .... amazing that we could be 'in' the country, but until we actually touch land, there is no requirement for us to let them know we are here. Technically, we could have motored up the ICW, anchored every night and as long as we don't touch American soil, we are still legal!
Well, once we called, we had 24 hours to get to a reporting station, the nearest one was at Ft. Pierce airport, 15 miles south. Many errands were on our list anyway, so renting a car wasn't a big hardship, or so we thought....
I called Enterprise Monday morning, and they asked if I could call back as they were pretty busy with customers in the store. Once we finished a couple of loads of laundry, we decided just to take the free city bus into town, thinking that if they were too busy to talk on the phone, they likely couldn't spare staff to come and pick us up. Into town we went, and we first came across the Budget rental office, so popped in there. No cars available today. We continued walking to the address where Google maps shows Enterprise, but didn't find the office. Then we found a pay phone and I gave them a call. I got directions to the office, but found out that they didn't have any cars available until late afternoon. Now the tension is beginning to rise...we need to be in Ft. Pierce and finished our paperwork by 6 when the Customs office closes. If worse comes to worse, we know we could take a taxi, but that would be a last resort. We headed back to the Budget office, and Greg asked if we could rent a car now for just a couple of hours. Even though their lot appeared to have lots of cars, they said all they had available was a passenger van, which would be $150 for two hours. We'll keep our fingers crossed that Enterprise comes through.
Back to the boat for lunch, and wait until 2:30 when we can call Enterprise back and see if they indeed have a car, and if someone can come and pick us up. Sure enough, at 2:45 their driver would be on his way shortly.
"should be there in about 15 minutes".
Meanwhile, we chatted with another Canadian cruiser who told us all the hassles they had had while crossing into the US on past trips, as well as horror stories they had heard from others. Great.
3 o'clock......3:20......3:30...... I told Greg I would give him an hour and then call back. At 3:45, I called and was told their driver had just left, should be about 10 minutes. This time, they were right! Ten minutes later the Enterprise van drove up, dropped some other people off ...... and drove away!!! Back to the phone to call them back (by now I have their number memorized), and explained what had happened.
"I'll call him, he'll be right back."
By 4:30 we were in the rental car office, waiting for our car to be washed. (Don't really care if it's clean, we just need to be in Ft. Pierce in less than an hour, and we are watching rush hour traffic build outside the windows).
Shortly after 5 we pull onto the airport property, looking for the Customs office. We found it behind the scaffolding and fencing of some apparently stalled construction project. We walk in ring the bell, and wait. Moments later the Customs Officer appears and asks us for our reporting number. Greg gives it to him. Then he asks for our passports. Check.
"OK, you're done"
Blank stare from us....
"That's it?"
"Yep."
No questions, no stamps, paper pushing, checking the system, nothing. Just a line through our reporting number, which was handwritten in a binder.
Done.

We left, glad that it had all worked out and headed to Carrabba's for a great dinner. Then hit a few stores for some things that had been on our 'wish list' in the Bahamas, including craft supplies, a bit of computer browsing, and then groceries.

Lake Worth to Vero Beach

On Sunday morning we got up and headed for Stuart, Florida. We had missed this town on our way south, and it had been recommended by many as a cute little place to stop. In order to get there, we had to travel about 25 miles north on the ICW, then turn up the St. Lucie River and follow it about 4 or 5 miles inland. While underway, I checked the guidebooks, and online Active Captain which gives you the opportunity to read other cruisers comments about marinas, anchorages and the best way to get places. Both sources recommended calling for 'local knowledge', because the river is narrow and subject to shoaling (moving of sand with the tides and current). As we neared the St. Lucie Inlet, Greg hailed TowBoatUS and asked them if they had any recommendations for our route. He asked our draft and once he heard sort of chucked and said 'well, for starters, you're going to want to try it at high tide'. He then gave a bit more information about where to favour the red or green side along the way. We checked the tide tables, then our watch and realized that we would be approaching the turn up the river at about exactly LOW tide. We decided to give it a try anyway. Sure enough, as soon as we turned west into the river, the depth immediately went to 8'. We knew this was the deep part of the river, and with the busy boat traffic, decided to carry on to Vero Beach. Within about 20 minutes we saw a manatee beside us in the channel, that was definitely a highlight. Another 30 miles made for a long day, but it was all worth it once we arrived knowing that we had easy access to shopping, good showers and laundry, and a busy mooring field full of interesting people. We rafted up with Sandy and Bill aboard their Hunter 'Southern Belle', and soon after headed ashore for the showers.

A Florida Update

Well, we made it back to the US!
We had a long haul across the Little Bahama Bank, covering about 250 miles in 5 days, without ever getting off the boat. After our departure from Green Turtle at high tide, we quickly anchored outside the channel as we waited for a squall to pass through. Bahamian squalls are so disappointing...on the few occasions that we have seen dark clouds looming on the horizon, we expect that the rain and wind that will follow will be on par with the storms at home. Not so. As the others, this little rain cloud brought only that ..... a little rain. After moving on, we sailed for a couple of hours before anchoring at dinner time near Powell Cay.

We knew we wanted to cross the gulf stream on Saturday. The winds and seas were forecast to be most favourable on that day.
Our plan had been to sail from Powell Cay to Great Sale Cay on Thursday, then to Mangrove Cay on Friday. We would then get up early on Saturday, by early I mean about 3am, and finish our sail across the bank in the dark. That would have us beginning our deep water sailing around daybreak, and we would then continue on to Lake Worth in Florida. After listening to the chatter on the radio, hearing what other boats were going to do, we changed our plan.
Thursday night we still anchored at Great Sale, but then Friday we continued past Mangrove Cay and anchored on the edge of the bank, with two other boats nearby, ready to go across the stream at first light. While it didn't exactly turn out as we had hoped, in the end, it all worked out very well.
For starters, as we were passing Mangrove, a dolphin joined us and played at our bow for about 4 or 5 minutes. Because the water is so clear, we were able to see him both underwater, and as he surfaced. Those few minutes alone were worth the extra hours of travel that we put in that day.

By the time we set the anchor down around 6, everyone was tired. Jessica made us pizza, which unfortunately, I could not partake of, as the rocking motion of the boat in 3' seas was a bit much for my stomach. I was fine as soon as I put my head down and closed my eyes, which wasn't long after dinner. Greg opted to sleep in the cockpit, as he was a bit nervous about anchoring so close to the edge of the ocean. We were literally less than a half mile from water that was thousands of feet deep. Greg watched one of the other boats drag anchor around 10pm, and it took them several tries to get the anchor to hold again in the sand. That was the end of any chance of sleep for him. In addition, we were not too far off the route that any vessel traversing the area would follow, and even though the three boats had lots of lights up, we didn't want to take any chances.
At midnight everything changed. The current pushed us sideways to the waves, so instead of rocking bow to stern, we were rolling side to side - a very uncomfortable motion on a boat. It was bad enough to wake me up, and to Greg's relief suggest that we just get going. So, that's what we did. By 1:10, we were on our way. One of the most fascinating times on this trip for me is watching our depth gauge to see the ocean floor fall away below us. For the first 20 minutes or so, the depth of water was somewhere between 14 and 20 feet. At 1:27, we were in 50 feet. As my watch turned to 1:29 there was 278 feet of water, and before 1:30, the depth gauge didn't return anything, it was just too deep. So, off we went into the darkness, both below and above us.
It truly was a beautiful sail. The stars were spectacular, with the nearest lights being those of Florida 50 miles away. The bioluminescence in the water made it look like fireflies were filling our wake. The moon rose over our left shoulders around 3, and the sun began to light the sky behind us a few hours later. Greg and I alternated turns helming and napping. Jessica appeared a few times during the early morning, joining us for a few minutes before returning to our berth to sleep some more. Madeline slept right through it all.
At one point, we considered making the longer trek to Ft. Pierce, but then realized that would be just too long a day for everyone, especially with our early start. Plus we were slightly concerned about the engine as it had been smoking a bit, a problem that we were fairly sure was caused by bad Bahamian fuel.
Happily, we didn't see any freighters until well into daylight, and had no problem adjusting our heading slightly to stay well clear of their course. Mid-morning, the skyscrapers of West Palm Beach came into view and we passed many Man-o-War jellyfish floating along the surface. At noon we passed through the Lake Worth Inlet, and motored north along the ICW to a cozy little anchorage 5 miles further. Tired, but happy with our choices, we spent the afternoon playing games, napping and toasting our return to the continent. Cheers!

Headed for Florida

Currently, we are passing the last BaTelCo cellular tower on our journey, so thought we'd send our last Bahamian blog update...
Our morning started with a bit of excitement. As Greg was at the bow pulling up the anchor, the pin on his watchband broke, and his watch fell in the sea. A quick swim with his mask and he returned with both his watch, and several sea biscuits.
Soon thereafter, we were on our way.
We are headed for Great Sale Cay today, and will anchor behind it tonight. Tomorrow we will make the short hop to Mangrove Cay, then leave early Saturday morning and head across the gulf-stream to Florida.
Until we arrive on the continent, this is Cee Jem signing out from the Bahamas!!

Hi blog readers!
We moved from green turtle cay and we were anchored just outside the channel that Goes into the green turtle cay marina.
We stopped to anchor because there was a squall coming thru.
Yesterday when going thru the whale cut I liked it because we got to sale.
At the beach on treasure cay we found 57 cents!
The beach on treasure cay is in my top 5 favorite beaches.
Last night we went out for dinner at the green turtle club, the food was so good,I had a caesar salad and we all shared an order of conch fritters.
i'll tell u more later,
Madeline

Whale Cut and Green Turtle Cay

After hearing horror stories about how bad the Whale Cut can be, listening to daily reports for the last couple of weeks while we've been in the Abacos, we decided that today was the day for us to go through.
'The Whale' as it is known, is a small island which any boat with draft deeper than about 3' must go around on the ocean side. The trip on the ocean is only about 2 miles, but it is ocean nonetheless and that requires going through a cut to get out, and a cut to get back in. The cuts are often the worst part of these trips, as current opposing wind can make for nasty wave conditions, and in these parts, usually both sides of the deep water are flanked by reefs, over which ocean swells crash making it all very dramatic! In actuality, the worst part of our trip was getting to the ocean. Leaving Treasure Cay, we had to point directly into the wind, slowed by the waves at our bow. As we were headed upwind, we couldn't put up a sail which at least offers some stability in rough seas. We were about an hour and a half getting to the outbound cut, and during this time heard reports from other boats headed through that the conditions were pretty good. Once we were on the ocean, we could turn north, put up a sail, and we not only picked up considerable speed (at one point we saw 7.8 knots, which is unheard of for us), but our ride smoothed out to something quite pleasant. Our ETA for the waypoint where we turned back in was only 22 minutes. Too bad, after all our suffering to get here. Very soon we were back on the bank in the northern Sea of Abaco, and were able to turn off the engine to enjoy a quiet afternoon.
Green Turtle Cay was our destination, and we radioed ahead to see if there was room, and if our 6' draft would allow us to enter their channel. No problem getting a dock for you, but it might be 'a bit skinny' on the way in. We decided to give it a try, though we knew it was risky, as we were on a falling tide. If we did run aground, we'd have to be quick about getting off the bottom, or we'd be stuck, leaning to one side, until next high tide 6 hours later. We slowly nosed into the channel, and with only a few tense moments with less than 6" under our keel, we made it through!
We were greeted at the dock by a smiling dockhand "you made it!".
And so glad we did. The Green Turtle Club offers a great dockage deal: whatever you spend at their restaurant or bar, that amount is considered a credit toward your dockage fee. So we were able to enjoy a great dinner out, very likely our last in the Bahamas, as we head out Wednesday, making our way across the northern Abacos, hoping to cross to Florida on Saturday.

Treasure Cay

Monday we made a nice quiet departure from Man-O-War by sailing out of the anchorage. With few boats around us, it was fairly easy, and we enjoyed a great sail (no motoring!) until noon. We were approaching the Treasure Cay channel when we noticed a fuel freighter approaching our stern. Treasure Cay and the Whale cut to the ocean are fairly near each other, so it was hard to determine where he was headed. We tried to contact them on the radio, but no answer. Shortly after our radio calls, 'Ocean Trader' made a securite call on the radio announcing their intention to enter the Treasure Cay channel in 17 minutes, all concerned traffic must stand by. Our ETA: 20 minutes. So we knew we would have to follow this huge ship in, and likely circle a few times on the bank while he established alongside the fuel dock. A further glance around showed that we were one of 3 boats in the vicinity that would have to order ourselves into the narrow, shallow channel. Turn the engine on, drop the sails, turn around into the wind, bang into the 4' waves that were no issue when they were a following sea, and wait the 10 minutes for Ocean Trader to clear the channel. Half an hour later we were anchored in the protected harbour. While we were getting organized, a float plane taxied around the anchorage and departed, dodging masts on his climb! A short dinghy ride took us to their dock where we enjoyed the beach, frozen drinks and pool with Hi-5, then off to the showers. Sweaters were retrieved from the boat as the night cooled and we headed to Julie and Kerry's boat, which was on a dock, for a few more drinks and snacks.

Tuesday morning we walked to the bakery beside the marina and enjoyed the most delicious cinnamon buns. The proprietor begins her day at the bakery and makes dozens every day. The line up was to the door. I asked her secret: Robin Hood flour from Canada. It isn't the same with any other flour, she told me, they just don't taste as good!
Back to the pool for a short swim, over to the beach to see what the ocean looked like. We were scoping out the conditions, as were planning to go through the Whale Cut in the afternoon.
Back at the dock we said good bye to Hi-5, as they are staying in Treasure Cay for another couple of weeks.
While we were prepping the boat, securing loose items and getting ready for what could be a bit of a bumpy 45 minutes on the ocean, Ocean Trader left the fuel dock, came into the anchorage and did a 3-point turn to get back out. Pretty impressive!

At noon, as we had planned, we lifted the anchor and set out.

Man-O-War Cay

Left Marsh Harbour on Saturday morning, with the help of a rising tide.
We slowly motored across the bank headed for the north end of Man O War Cay. When we got closer, we saw some other boats anchored near the north entrance to the harbour and tried to set the hook there. There looked to be a good spot between a catamaran and a trawler. On the bow Greg lowered the anchor, at the helm I put the engine in reverse. The idea here is to simulate the backward force of wind or current on the boat and make sure the anchor has dug in well. With very few exceptions, we catch on the first try. This time was one of those exceptions. As I added reverse power, we moved backwards. During these few moments, Greg and I look at each other, a confused scowl on our faces, then a look of surprise simultaneously washes over both of us as we mouth 'dragging?!?'. We went back, picked up the anchor, and tried again. Still no good holding there.
We moved a half mile south, and tried again. Success!
A bit of lunch, then off to explore the town. We found a great Androsia shop, Sally sews all sorts of beautiful things from fabric that is printed on nearby Andros Island. It is one of the few places I have found something locally made that didn't involve shells glued to something. Down the road is a similar shop, selling various bags made of out of sailcloth. Then to the beach, where we watched the rollers churn against the reefs offshore. We continued our trek finding a few locals to chat with, a small park and many churches.

Sunday we stayed put, as the wind picked up again. In a stroke of good luck, where we ended up finally putting down our anchor was an ideal spot. We spent a good part of the morning watching other boats move and position themselves close to us in the lee of the little cay. Reading, knitting, napping and playing were the chosen activities while we were boat bound.

Finally, Calmer Days

The wind has finally subsided enough for us to be on our way. For the last week, the average wind speed was somewhere in the low 20's, with gusts regularly in the mid 30's. The winds brought record numbers of boats into Hope Town harbour, at one point topping 100!
We made good use of our time in Hope Town. In addition to climbing the lighthouse and swimming in the pools, we also met lots of new people. We especially enjoyed Sally and Kevin on the sailboat Kokomo, who were tied up beside us. It was Sally who offered the giraffe raft (later dubbed 'girraft' by Madeline) for the girls to play with. The girls enjoyed playing with a new friend Sebastian, an 11-year old Nova Scotia native who has been living on a boat for the last 3 years. His parents Sandra and Brian have decided to stay in Hope Town for several months, so Sebastian has been enrolled in the local school. Brain commutes to his job overseas for several weeks at a time, and I think they are all enjoying the stability of being in one place for a period of time. We also met a couple on a charter boat who spent 2 nights on the dock. Christy and Bob were on a 5-day vacation, making use of the last week of her 4-month maternity leave. We had a lot in common with them, she worked for the school system in Madison, Wisconsin and Bob worked on satellite weather data and was also a pilot. We felt badly that their short time away coincided with the crazy wind, but were glad they found their way to the same marina as us, and enjoyed a feast of tacos on their boat Tuesday night.
Wednesday night was Happy Hour! Sally had mentioned that she would like to plan a gathering, so we put the girls to work making invitations, which they handed out to the various boats on the dock. It was a tremendous success, drawing cruisers from about 15 boats. Word even spread and we attracted boats that were on moorings in the harbour. There was lots of great food and we met people who we will likely cross paths with over the next few months as we all travel northbound.
Thursday we got up and did a bit of school, then took Hi-5 up on their offer to use the golf cart they had rented the day before. We met them in town at 11 and zoomed off to Tahiti Beach at the south end of Elbow Cay. Our timing was great, and we were able to walk the sandbars at low tide, while the kite boarders took advantage of the wind and crisscrossed the bay around us. On our way back to town, we picked up 'conch snack' from Mackey's Take-Away, and enjoyed the deep fried treat back on the pier in Hope Town after we had returned the golf cart. (Well, in the case of Elbow Cay Rentals, you just park it somewhere on the main street leave the keys in it, and they will come find it later .... gotta love a small town!)
Friday morning we got up, paid our bill and were on our way at high tide. We were one of many boats heading out of the harbour, all taking advantage of the calmer winds. A short sail found us anchored at Marsh Harbour. Less than pretty, very industrial and busy would best describe this hub of activity in the Abacos. We did manage to get our cruising permit extended, shop at the huge grocery store here, and had a very late lunch at Conchy Joe's. It took us a bit to find this recommended local lunch spot. Mostly because they didn't have a sign! We knew we were looking for a houseboat, on a dock, near the shore beside a marina. Unfortunately, we began our search on the wrong side of the marina. Weaving in and out of finger docks, we were eventually pointed in the right direction by a couple we had first met in Spanish Wells. The service was slow, but it was worth the wait. We were told that all the conch dishes were tasty, so we ordered a variety: conch salad, conch fritters and conch snack. It was truly made to order. After our order was placed, the cook (who was also the waitress and cashier), walked down the dock and picked up a line with 5 conch hanging on it. The conch had been caught earlier, holes put in their shell and the line strung through them. They then wait, hung over a piling at the dock for hungry folk like us. She brought them to her outdoor cleaning table, and with a swift strike of her conch hammer had broken the shell. Her conch knife cut the muscle that attached the conch to the shell and voila!! the conch slipped out. We have been told trying this on your own can take hours, until you get the hang of it. She then took them inside, skinned them, and tenderized them. Conch salad is made by marinating the conch with vegetables in lime juice, ceviche style. Tomatoes, peppers, onions and a few hot peppers, salt and pepper made the most delicious conch dish I have tasted yet. The fritters and fried conch were also the best we have had.
We returned to the boat, full and happy. The girls spent a bit of the evening rowing the dinghy around, then hula-hooped on the bow. They got a round of applause from an anchored neighbour and then had a bottle of bubbles delivered for their enjoyment. The cruising community generally embraces those of us with kids on board. We are often told one of two reasons: either they travelled with their own kids, or wish they had.
Today we are headed to Man-O-War Cay for some swimming and snorkeling, and to hunker down for the wind that is supposed to pick up again tonight.

Hello by:Jessica

Hello blog readers,
We are still in Hope town. That's ok, I like it here. It is quite windy still. We are going back to the same lighthouse that we went to two nights ago. We are seing them ( the people that work for it) light it again. Did you know that there are only three hand operated left in the world? All of them are in the Bahamas. They are closing the other two ones down and changing them to audomadic because nobody really uses them any more. This one will be the only one left in thev WORLD ( which is a big place ).
Bye for now,
Jessica

We've reached the Abacos!

Hey : friends and family,
We are in Hope Town and it has been very windy the last couple of days.
Jessica and I have been swimming in the pool, but now it is too cold, so we don't really do it anymore. I liked the Heritage Day that was in town because at the museum I enjoyed looking at all the appliances that they used in hope town.
On Heritage day when we were headed over to town in the dinghy to celebrate,we saw a sea turtle! On march ,7,2012 we had a cocktail party ,we made invitations and handed them out. So far, here in hope town, we have met: Sebastian, from the boat Jamoco and Micelle+ Lily who are staying in a cottage here. Today ( march ,8 2012) when we used a golf cart to go to Tahiti beach, I found some sea glass that has writing on it and as far as I can tell it is the bottom of a bottle and it says : S & RUDD 15. But I have no idea what that means!?!?
Talk to ya later,
Madeline

Cee Jem is for Sale

We have listed Cee Jem for sale. As we will not have time to continue our cruising lifestyle when we get home we have decided to share her with another family who might wish to do the same trip we did.
The pictures below are for anyone interested in purchasing Cee Jem.

Hope Town Lighthouse

On Sunday we had the fortunate experience to be able to climb the Hope Town lighthouse. Though we have climbed other lighthouses on this trip, what makes this one special is that it is one of only three hand operated, kerosene fueled lighthouses left in the world. The other two are also in the Bahamas, and are scheduled to be closed later this year.
Our first trip up was in the afternoon. A strong cold front blew through and we thought it would be exciting to see the effect the wind has on the ocean from the top of the lighthouse. Indeed! With winds likely topping 40 knots, the ocean was angry looking and had standing waves at the visible reefs. The bank side actually looked worse. With water depths averaging only about 11 feet, the wind had churned up some pretty nasty looking chop, and the only visible boat was the water taxi scurrying into channel enroute from Marsh Harbour. At the top of our climb, the girls checked out all directions from the outdoor catwalk, physically stopped by the gusts at times.

We returned to the lighthouse at 6pm, by invitation of the keeper. We were going to witness a piece of history, and watch the lighthouse being lit!
Sam is a native Bahamian with a fabulous recount of the history of this and other Bahamian lighthouses. He began his lighting procedure by pouring a small amount of kerosene in a cup and warming it over a small flame. He began his storytelling like this....

The Hope Town lighthouse was built in 1863. It has had an exterior addition of reinforcement, and other than that is completely original. The stairs we climbed, were built in 1863; the mechanism that rotates the base the light sits on, built in 1863; the lenses that magnify the little kerosene lamp making it visible for a distance of 23 miles, built in 1863! Sam relayed that as a child he grew up in lighthouses, as his father was also a lighthouse keeper. A one point there were 11 manually operated lighthouses in the Bahamas, and his father worked in 10 of them. Everywhere Sam has lived, that constant rotating light has shone over his sleep during every minute of darkness. As a kid, he got to know the workings of lighthouses. Their mechanics, their intricacies, their characters. Eventually Sam's father settled at the Hope Town lighthouse, working shifts side by side with his brother. One works 6 - midnight, the other midnight to daybreak. The next night they switch, and so on .... 365 days a year. Sadly, Sam's father passed away 10 years ago, and never saw his son take on the duties of his life's work 8 years ago. Now, Sam shares these same duties with his cousin, the son of his uncle who worked beside his father.

By now, Sam has continued his ritual. He has done a visual check of the mechanism, climbed a ladder a further 10 feet above our heads and opened the curtains that cover the windows, protecting the lenses from the sun.

He continues his story as he works.
Beyond the actual structure of the lighthouse itself, the lenses are most precious. He tells us they cost about $10,000 each to replace. In unison, all visitors shift their gaze to the enormous glasswork above us to make the mental calculation: each face has 28 lenses. There are 8 faces. Clearly, it would be an enormous expense to replace even the few that are already cracked. And each lighthouse has unique lenses, they cannot be borrowed from other structures. We all marvel at how they would have been lifted up the 110 feet from the ground below. Carefully, they would have been placed in their frame which was precisely built to hold them. This frame sits on a bed of mercury, allowing it to spin with essentially no friction. 150 years has not brought us much closer to the dream of perpetual motion.

Now the kerosene is sufficiently warmed. Sam pours it into the lamp, lights it, and we are all surrounded by the unmistakable hissing sound and warm smell of a Coleman lantern. A few moments later, the flame has been adjusted to his satisfaction. It must be bright enough to cast its glow for miles around, yet do so efficiently. We are told this lighthouse burns about 2 gallons of kerosene a night. Sam climbs back down to our level. He has already cranked up the weights that hang down the centre of the circular stairs. Their potential energy will slowly be used to turn the gears that keep the light turning. Every two hours the weights must be cranked up again to keep the lighthouse operating. He tells us he now wakes automatically without an alarm. Rising about 20 minutes before necessary, he will climb the 101 stairs to the top, crank up the weights, check that all is well, then descend again to his bed in the keeper's house at the bottom.

As he talks, he continues his work. With a gentle hand, he pushes the light into motion. The gears silently begin their movement. Once the light settles into a constant speed, Sam stands beside, one hand on the turning frame feeling the speed. He makes a small adjustment with a cog below. He repeats this procedure a couple of more times, his tuning becoming finer each time. The last time he stands a moment longer than the rest, closing his eyes to make sure he's got it right.
"How do you know how fast it needs to go?" we ask.
"After all this time, you can just feel it." he answers with a smile.

Sam loves this lighthouse. He is hopeful that this marvel, which has kept so many lives safe over the last 150 years will be spared future government cuts. The town is fighting hard to protect the landmark that has towered over it for so long.
I am glad my girls got to see it, got to hear Sam's story.

We Made it to the Abacos!!!

Here are some ways I considered beginning this entry ...

Well, we had quite the day ...

I love the colour of the water here, but would prefer not to see it running down the gunnels after a wave crashes over us ...

There is a saying that we use when trying to convince the girls to try something new: "Do one thing a day that scares you." Madeline brought smiles to our faces when she said "I don't think it says 'Do one thing all day that scares you.' "...

I am so proud of my family...

We had a tough day getting from Spanish Wells to the Abacos, but in the end arrived safe and sound, all smiling. We left the anchorage at Royal Island, near Spanish Wells, early. We knew we were in for a long day, we had 60 miles to cover. At 5 - 6 knots, you can do the math.
Just after 7am we were rounding the corner at the northwest end of Eleuthera, headed northbound across the part of our charts that says 'North Atlantic Ocean'. We knew the wind would be steady. What we didn't consider was that around 9:30 when we were no longer protected by Eleuthera from the south east wind, the waves kicked up a bit. We were in the company of 5 other boats, our friends on Hi-5 among them, so we knew we were not alone. This is reassuring not only so if you need help, it is close at hand, but also to know that we were not the only ones to decide to make this passage at this time. By 10, the waves had kicked up quite a bit, and Greg and I were glancing warily at each other wondering if this was really such a good idea.
At this point we decided to make a precautionary move and had everyone harness in. This means that the girls put a vest on under their lifejackets that we tie a rope to and attach them to the boat; our lifejackets have the harness built in. Now we were all physically attached to the boat, so no matter wht happened, nobody was going anywhere.
I heard the wave before I saw it, and when I spun my head around, all I could see was the last bit of spray followed by the surprised looks on everyone's faces as the salt water dripped off them. Inevitably, in these seas, there will be the odd wave that hits you the wrong way and those in the cockpit get a little wet. Now Greg posed the question 'Well, do we want to keep going?' We were 3 hours into our 9 hour day. Turning back would still mean 3 more hours of sailing, and all of it back into the wind which usually is more punishing than sailing with the wind as we had been. Jessica was the brave one who shakily said 'I want to keep going'. We all agreed and soldiered on.
For the next 2 hours the fierce ocean continued to batter the weary sailors .... Ok, ok, the Lake Ontario sailors that we are thought it a bit rough for our taste, but no one was ever in any danger. We all sat in the cockpit for the day, enjoying the colour of the 4000 meters of sea below us, looking at the lines of seaweed that told us there were likely Mahi below us, and keeping clear of the few freighters that were in the shipping channel that we crossed.
On the radio, we got a call from Hi-5 inviting us to join them for a fresh fish dinner that night. They had managed to reel in a beautiful Mahi and wanted to share with us. Fishing!! Seriously, in this weather you're fishing! Then we remembered that sailing on a catamaran offers the definite advantage of comfortable sailing under many sea conditions.
Admittedly, the second wave that hit us was a big one. At the helm Greg looked up to see a wall of water heading for him, saw the girls red life jackets briefly disappear behind the gray spray of water and then had to move his feet off the cockpit drains to let the water out.
By 1pm, things had begun to calm down. The waves weren't much smaller, they were just going in all the same direction. Any sailors out there can appreciate the delight of sailing out of 'confused seas' into waters that have one direction of wave train. If you're not a sailor, it's like driving off a gravel pot-holed country road onto a nicely paved section. In both cases, you often exhale with an audible sigh of relief.
Close to two o'clock, we spotted the edge of Great Abaco Island on the horizon "Land Ho!" For the next hour and a half, we motor sailed along the coast. The wind continued to subside, at times not even blowing enough to fill our sails.
The entry through the cut from the ocean to the bank of the Sea of Abacos was a bit nerve-wracking too. The deep water part of the cut is framed by reefs just under the surface. With our east wind, the water was crashing over these reefs in huge rolling waves either side of our safe path. With a bit of sail out to help steady us along, we easily navigated through and once inside truly enjoyed the nice flat water of the protected bank. It only took us about 15 minutes to get to the anchorage where all the other boats who had made the passage had put down the hook. We took some time to put our boat back together. The cabin below had taken quite a beating too ... contents of closets had slid onto the floor, some cabinets had opened strewing their contents everywhere, and stuff that had been stashed in any available safe spot had to be put back. Once tidied, we happily dinghied to Hi-5 to share in their Mahi dinner, and recount the days' events. We all turned in early that night and slept soundly!

As I said at the beginning, I am so proud of all of us. We knew we were safe, that was never in question, and we tried something out of our comfort zone. The girls sat patiently in the cockpit with us for what must have seemed like an eternity to them. We all arrived smiling and laughing about the days events. We now have the beautiful Abacos before us to explore and enjoy.