May 11-13 YAWN... am I boring you yet?

May 9-13

Times flies when you're not paying attention!! We've beenhere for a few days swimming, watching the iguanas, picking up garbage,snarling at the boats who come screaming into the anchorage, with their stereosblasting, drop their passengers to harass the iguanas and then leave again.

Quentin has almost finished his whole English course and I have to say I have never read such a crappy course outline. ILC stuff is old and useless. He has had to read Romeo and Juliet in 2 versions: the standard Shakespeare version and one that is called "Manga"...Japanese anime' with the Shakespearian text but some of the speeches were shortened. 

One of the part questions he has to answer is: "Tell why you think the Manga version is not as good as the original version, by citing examples of things that were added, removed or changed in the Manga version."  How slanted is THAT???What if you like it better?  I'm not afan of the Manga version...don't like comic books, and old English spoken byJapanese just looks/sounds funny, but hey...you can read it faster!! Which isgood, if you don't like reading Shakespeare!

So, we have seen some really big rays and lots of crabs and fish. There are some needle fish or gar fish that hunt against the boat. They swim through the schools of little fish and slam them against the boat and suck them up.  There are silver-coloured fish that hunt with them or follow the rays to see what they churn up. We are very careful around the rays here. They are not used to humans.

The iguanas are like dump bears. They run out onto the beach as soon as they hear a motor. And if you don't have anything, they walk away. I was picking up garbage and because I had something in my hand, they were following me.

There is a pair of nesting ospreys here as well. They live on the western island in one of the few tall trees here. It's nice to see that the islands were not affected by the hurricane last October.

We have done some chores...repaired the mainsail with the rest of our sail tape and duct tape. It's 100-mile-an-hour tape and since we only go about 5-7 miles an hour, we're hoping it will hold until we get back to shore.

The wind generator is not working...no blades but there is ample sunshine right now...no clouds or rain...I probably shouldn'a said that...so we are good for power.

The seagulls here are as bad as seagulls at home only they are more polite. They come by every morning noon and evening to say hello in case we are eating. They will sit on the dinghy or the motor and talk to us...very quietly.

We were all alone here except for the big powerboats until yesterday when a small monohull called Wild Goose came in and sat near us. SO, the other end of the bay is empty, right? Then a huge 47 ft catamaran comes in and parks BETWEEN us. They are so close I can read the labels on their laundry! I don't live on a sailboat because I want neighbours!!! Crap!! Hopefully they will leave soon.

We went snorkelling n the deep water around the outside of the islands yesterday. Quentin and Rick tried to fish from the dinghy....didn't

Cutting a coconut ...with an audience

Swimming under the rock

Nesting ospreys

Driving home from the "store"

Hello, my name is George...got food?

work.  Have a good day, guys!

To Staniel Cay and Allen's Cay

May 5 In Staniel Cay
So we just sat... no, not sat..scurried around like scared rabbits... during a horrendous thunderstorms with 50+ knot winds and dragging anchors and shredding sails. But we are okay...wet and tired and we are preparing for another one scheduled for later today or tomorrow. Amazing Grace, Nauticuss and a couple of other boats are here: everyone is fine. Boats are clean and salt free!
OK, its evening. After the storm we asessed the damage: the main sail split but we an fix it with sal tpe when the deck dries. The staysail UV protection shredded, but we can get that fixed by a sailmaker. we lost the blades from our wind generator so we don;t have wind power and we blew the inverter,, so we don't have any AC power... computers cannot be charged so will probably lose the internet before we get another one. GRRRRRR!

But when it cleared up, Amazing Grace and Nauticuss took us to Thunderball Grotto and swam in there. Then we went to see the swimming pigs. Hopefully we will miss the next one. we will hang out here until we are sure.
May 6Morning! It's beautiful and calm and a perfect Caribbean morning...weather looks like its over, and we are getting ready to move on. The inverter re-booted itself so that's a plus...dried out, so I will stop cursing the companies who make boat equipment that is not waterproof. 

The sail is not a big deal. We do not use our main to drive the boat: it is more like a steadying sail. And our big jib was good. We can lay out the man and use sail tape or duct tape if we have to to get us back to the mainland.
Wind generator is a disappointment but the blades are easily replaceable and as long s we have sunshine we're golden!

Today we go to town to get some milk and bread; show Quentin Smethurstthe nurse sharks that hang around the yacht club for food and petting. Then head up towards Wardrick Wells or Shroud Cay. Days are looking good.

OK, Update...Quentin Smethurst has jumped ship!! Amazing Grace and Nauticuss are heading up to Allen's Cay today. So Quentin is on Nauticuss. We will be there in 2 days and will pick him up then. He is crew on Nauticuss for two days. Ross will take good care of him! Oh, and Ross made him bring his homework!!!

May 8

Ok,for those of you who are concerned, we have met up with NautiCuss today and we will take back Quentin in the morning before Ross leaves. He said Q could spend another night on his boat. He is leaving for the Abacos tomorrow. I will have a cool picture to post later today or tomorrow when I get it off Ross's camera! We will be here in Allen's Cay for about 12 days, then had north to the Abacos and over to Florida...should be there end of May.

End of April...Leaving Georgetown

Today I am doing laundry on the boat so it's my fault rain is popping up unannounced and unforecasted today. Quentin has gone fishing with Amazing Grace and Nauticuss. They are 5 miles south and the rain is 5 miles south of them, so it will be here soon.
Tomorrow he has to be on shore at 8 am so he can compete in the dinghy races in the Family Island Regatta races. He's pretty excited about that...if you can actually tell when a 15-yr-old is excited. I told you that Tuesday Ross [Nauticuss] came by and yelled, "Who wants to go fishing?" Quentin was up and ready to go before Ross got stopped, so he went by himself with Nauticuss and the crew from Amazing Grace. I had to finish a sign and Rick didn't want to go fishing.

Four hours later they were back. Quentin had a 5.5 lb mahi-mahi and Jim caught one too. Ross lost his, but those two mahi-mahi fed 11 people last night!!

The best part was that Ross made Quentin fillet the fish as well. Ross showed him how to clean it without having to gut it first, and he made Quentin do both of the fish!
Quentin's rod fell apart [sorry, Jack, it just couldn't handle the fight] so Ross gave him a new fishing rod that he can use while we travel home. So Quentin can keep us in fish while we sail.

This morning, Quentin went over to the town side so he could try to get into one of the sailing dinghies, but ended up on the crash boat. The local sailing club didn't have room for him on the Class B boat, but they gave him at-shirt anyway, and told him to find another boat to crew on. He went looking for another boat, and ended up on "Lady Natalie", a boat from the Acklins Islands.

AND THEY TOOK 3RD PLACE IN THE GOVERNOR GENERAL'S CUP!!!
So he will actually get something for being on that boat!!! They told him to show up again tomorrow and he can race with them again!!
He's pretty happy about that. So, Granddad if you are looking for racing crew this summer...

So Regatta is over and its time to move on. we are all trying to yank up our chains and head out. We need to get to Immigration and get an extension tomorrow and hope we get enough time to get through the islands. Quentin wants to go through the Abacos so we will once again go up he island chains and over.

He didn't get to go up and get the trophy with his racing team. Apparently the "owner" of the boat gets the recognition, not the guys who actually sailed it to second place! But he has lots of memories and the captain told him he could sail with them whenever he is in the Islands and they are sailing!

SO it's time to get the servicing done so we can head out. It will be a tough 2 days saying goodbye again to our boating family.

wink emoticon

April 25-27 Sailing and fishing!!

April 25-27

Okay ...my bad...no blog for 3 days...but what a three days! I have no idea what we did on Monday! I'll have to go back and think about that.

Tuesday Ross [Nauticuss] came by and yelled, "Who wants to go fishing?"  Quentin was up and ready to go before Ross got stopped, so he went by himself with Nauticuss and the crew from Amazing Grace.  I had to finish a sign and Rick didn't want to go fishing.

Four hours later they were back. Quentin had a 5.5 lb mahi-mahi and Jim caught one too. Ross lost his, but those two mahi-mahi fed 11 people last night!!

The best part was that Ross made Quentin fillet the fish as well. Ross showed him how to clean it without having to gut it first, and he made Quentin do both of the fish!

Quentin's rod fell apart [sorry, Jack, it just couldn't handle the fight] so Ross gave him a new fishing rod that he can use while we travel home. So Quentin can keep us in fish while we sail.

This morning, Quentin went over to the town side so he could try to get into one of the sailing dinghies, but ended up on the crash boat. The local sailing club didn't have room for him on the Class B boat, but they gave him at-shirt anyway, and told him to find another boat to crew on. He went looking for another boat, and ended up on "Lady Natalie", a boat from the Acklins Islands.

AND THEY TOOK 3RD PLACE IN THE GOVERNOR GENERAL'S CUP!!! 

So he will actually get a trophy or something for being on that boat!!! They told him to show up again tomorrow and he can race with them again!!

He's pretty happy about that. So, Granddad if you are looking for racing crew this summer...

Lady Natalie from Acklins Island

 

The crews!

Figuring out which hand to use

Cleaning the mahi-mahi

Using the left-hand

April 16-24

April 16-24

The last week of school was anti-climactic.  There was no interest in the students to enter the Art displays. I hope that some of them will ask in the office about it, and enter some of their work. There are some talented students there. Some of them were actually disappointed to know that I would not be there...probably because they would lose this "free" period.

Quentin didn't end up going to the birthday party. The kids didn't come to school Friday and no-one contacted him or picked him up...but Salt Shaker is here and he had a great time with Daniel and Pace. Also Bahama Mama is back so all the kids hung out together. Saturday morning Rick took him over to the Regatta site and he managed to get into one of the small sail boats and sailed all morning and most of the afternoon with the Sailing Club. I think he will be going out today as well.

We are getting lists ready to start so we can be sure we are ready to head up to the top of the Bahamas and cross over when its time. When I think of all the things we did here last year in only 6 weeks, then this winter seems much longer. The first time we came down, we were exploring; this year we had a definite destination. We also participated in a lot more activities this year.

So, now we are flipping into "going-home" mode. And it's hard to keep up the blog when I'm not sure how many people are still reading it, so if you don't hear from me, it's because nothing exciting is happening. ttyl

One Bahamas

Crew: the other two were students of mine

Only looks like a stormy day...very little rain

Another weekend

Friday was the day Quentin went on his field trip. They had someone come in to the school totalk about this "brand new park" that they were going to on Mariah Bay, but he said they ended up at Sand Dollar Beach, with all the students thinking they were very far away from "home". He said that he knew where they were because of the boats parked right in front of them on the beach of this "brand new park". They ended up eating their lunches at Chat n' Chill and the boater kids he knew were talking to him. So basically we paid $10.00 so he could get a ride to the beach he goes to every day!!

Last night the grown-up Singing Frog came over and we played dominoes until 11 p.m.

Today, Jeanne and I are meeting the Sailing Club to present their "cheque". We were going to the Exuma Foundation Book Fair, but Singing Frog is here for the morning and Quentin may have an opportunity to go sailing with the sailing club, so he wants to wait and see. Overdraft came by yesterday to see if he would be here today, in case they need more "rail meat".

It was a very red sky this morning but we are supposed to have good weather for the next few days. Singing Frog is heading to St. Martin to haul their boat before going home and some other boats are also heading south to get out of the "box"...the hurricane zone. *sigh* Maybe we'll do that next year.

FYI- next Friday is Earth Day. Here in the Bahamas we are planting trees. You should do something to save the planet at home. Yesterday we bought 3 cheap plastic glasses. We will take them in our packs, so when we order a drink or a pop, we don't need to use disposable glasses. We can keep ours and re-use them. A small grocery bag will keep them from getting anything in the pack sticky or wet.

Good morning!

Getting the dock ready for the regatta

Regatta Point Morning

More boring [but warm] days in paradise

April 10-12

The last few days have been very uneventful. We have been battling strong currents and winds and looking for a calmer anchorage.  Monday afternoon we went to Georgetown for groceries. Sometimes they unload the trucks but don't really get around to stocking the shelves. We went to the meat market in the truck and picked up some chicken legs and breasts. I can't seem to fill Quentin up.  Liz, I hope you are prepared for this when he gets back!

We stayed in Kidd Bay after we got the groceries. It was too late to move by the time we finsihed dinner, although we probably should have moved down to February Point.  I hardly slept for the rolling and for some reason our dinghy tried to stick to the boat all night, so it was squeaking as the rubber sides pounded the boat. I was awake from 3:30 until 5:50 am ...fell asleep just in time to wake up!

We went to school Tuesday and had a good morning. I have added a grade 3 class to the schedule for a couple of weeks but the Grade 3 teacher is an enthusiastic all-round person and will continue with the classes when I am gone.

Today we will power through some more of the school work so he can go and hang out with his new friends. Today we will cruise down the harbour to attempt the spinnaker again.

Tomorrow we have classes again, and Friday I am off because the school is going on a field trip. Quentin will see if he can go with them. It's for Grades 7-11. If not, he gets a free day as well.

Starting Monday I will be running the Cruiser's net for 2 weeks. Someone on another boat today actually read my article in the Waterway Guide and mentioned it on the radio!!

Quentin has been invited to a birthday party next Friday by one of the students in my class. I guess he does math with them.

There are hardly any boats left here now. People are moving south to the lower Caribbean to get away from the weather, or they are heading north for the summer. We will be following those guys at the end of April. It has been an unusual winter here...not at all what we expected. Too short a time with C-Soul and didn't meet up with Modaki. Haven't spent a lot of time with anyone, but made some new friends through the "kid boats" and made contact with some we haven't seen for years.  I feel a bit melancholy. We didn't get to do some of the things we were hoping to do, but it never goes as planned! The boat needs some more repairs ...minor things like new tie-downs for the screens; changing some of the lines; fixing the drive ...again!! And the paint is looking a bit tired. We will do some of that when we come back down in the fall to Florida, getting ready to head out again.

We are looking forward to going up the islands this time and stopping in the places we missed coming down. We are also looking forward to coming home to visit. ttyl

Cat sitting on the post to keep the seagulls off!

Rough ocean yesterday

View of the hurricane hole from the top of the rise to the ocean

Hair washing

Reading 

New style of dinghy

And another one..they missed the masts, but only just!