Conception and Long Island...

We had a wonderful trip over to Salt Pond and Thompson Bay at Long Island where we weathered some winds then, when it let up, we had a week of mild weather which was perfect to go to the Island of Conception which as of two weeks ago became an official National Land and Sea Park in the Bahamas. It is surrounded by reefs and has the largest population of White Tropic Birds in the Bahamas. The interior is mangrove swamp and is full of turtles and is a breeding place for Nassau Grouper. We went into the lagoon with the dinghy, but could not stay long as the tide was going out and the entrance is shallow. It was beautiful! Patty Cakes went with us to Long Island and then to Conception before they headed back to George Town to wait for mail. It was fun to have company.

Inside the lagoon at Conception.


We returned to Long Island a day or so early to wait the visit of Bill's sister Pat, her husband John, Bill's brother John and his wife Sally and his Mother, Isabel. her Birthday gift from them was a trip to where we were sailing to spend a week together. We were all at the Stella Maris Resort which was very comfortable and situated on the Atlantic with lovely breezes to keep us cool. We never turned on the air conditioning in the house. We had some meals are the house, some lunches out and about, and dinners all but 2 in the dining room. There are lots of pools and beaches to visit including a tidal pool right in front of the house and a pool just next door.
Bill was great at making Pina Coladas each evening before dinner!

View from the house.

Tidal pool just below the garden behind the house.


Bill enjoying a Rum Punch Party and BBQ at Stella Maris.


We visited the resort at Cape Santa Maria, climbed up to the Columbus Monument...even Isabel and spent a day on the dive boat where we snorkeled while Isabel and Pat watched! There were lots of fish but the waters were a bit deeper than we usually like to snorkel

The beach at Cape Santa Maria when we had lunch on Easter Sunday.


At the Columbus Monument.

Sally patting the manatee at the marina when we came back from snorkeling.
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We drove to Deans Blue Hole, the deepest in the world..and snorkeled around the edge right off the beach. Lovely and lots of fish to see. It is a world famous free dive site.


We continued on that day to Bonna Corde to Lovers Beach and to Clarence Town for lunch at the Flying Fish Marina. We saw the two lovely churches but unfortunately were not able to visit inside.

The Bone Fishing Folks


Sally and John went bone fishing and we explored the Adderly Plantation Ruins close by the Resort but with a somewhat challenging walk through the brush on a rocky path.

After a memorable week, everyone left the Island on Friday Morning and we are in the marina, waiting good winds to head to Cat Island to meet Christine and Mark. Winds are gusting to 30 knots with big seas so we will wait until Wednesday when the seas settle down before we head out.

Will try to post a few more pictures when I can get them off my Ipad! Technically challenged!

All is well on Wind Spirit!

Just pictures this time...

A favorite pass time, reading, on Wind Spirit.

Mail boat at Sampson Cay wandering through anchored boats to get to the dock.

Sailing on a clear day still day. where does the water end and the sky begin?

Wind Spirit underway on a sunny day. Picture taken by Patty Cakes.


Another boat at Sampson wandering through the sailboats into the marina. Ships like this open their garages and pull out motor boats and seadoos and other noisy toys. They seem to be most often registered in the Cayman Islands too.

Clear water about 8 to 10 feet deep and so clear... looks like a modern art painting.

Sailing Buddies on Patty Cakes, Jack and Shaun at the Exumas Music and Heritage Festival at George Town. We went to the Gospel Concert which was mostly Christian Rock.


Kids watching the Gospel Concert

Young dancers at Gospel Concert.


G&G Shipping and the Customs office where we picked up our batteries. This is located at the old Naval Yard in George Town.

Bill negotiating with the Broker when we were getting the batteries.


View out the window of the best internet cafe in George Town... rusty hulkprobably from hurricane category 4 which came through the Bahamas 2 years ago and sailboats in the background. The trees are Australian Pines.


Great new Dinghy Dock at Peace and Plenty Resort right in George Town.



Ninety one year old Dancing at Rake and Scrape at Eddies Edgwater. He was also dancing at the Gospel Concert. Very entertaining!

Rake and Scrape Band...great dancing music!


Rolletown Welcome!

Twelve Mile Dinghy adventure to Rolletown.


Gardening with a machete in Rolletown. Very welcoming and community has history back to the emancipation when land was distributed to slaves and cannot be sold out of family.


Bill climbed up to the Monument on Stocking Island.


Picnic lunch on the Atlantic Beach at Salt Pond on Long Island Patty Cakes!

All is well on Wind Spirit!

Southern Bahama Highlights...

We had a great sail down from Emerald Bay to George Town after a successful battery replacement.

This is an insert I wrote about our adventures when we replaced the batteries …

Wanted to tell you about our fun day...well fun for me anyway as I went along for the ride. As you may or may not know we had ordered some batteries from Ft. Lauderdale last Wednesday, to be shipped directly to George Town on Saturday. The ship came in on time Monday in spite of the big seas. We had hired a local man Bob Smith, recommended by the marina, to take us to GeorgeTown to get them. We could not rent a car at all anywhere on the island as there is a music festival here this weekend which we think we will try to get to at least some of the events.
So we went to town today from the Emerald Bay Marina at the north end of the island. We stopped at several places on the way to take brochures by as Bob now has his boat working and has a small tour business when it goes. We saw Palm Bay Resort, and another Augusta Bay I think both very nice.
Finally got to the shipping place which is a shed in a dirt parking lot. One half of the shed is the shipping company and the other is customs. G&G Shipping did not have papers yet but they would be available soon. We sat out on the deck in the shade and waited. In a bit she left in her car to get the papers from customs in town. When she came back Bill paid for shipping, got the papers and took them outside where a broker was sitting. He gave them to the broker who took them off and filled in some more paperwork. When he came back Bill had to pay him $50 (that was a rip off) and then Bill took the papers to the customs guy who was by then sitting on the porch too. He looked at them, took them into his office and probably stamped them, then we had to drive into the customs office in town to pay $10.00 as we didn't have to pay duty being a boat in-transit.
While Bill did that I did some grocery shopping just a few things that as usual grows to more. We went and had lunch at a local place that happened to be owned by the brother and sister- in- law of Bob. Sadly we had to wait a long time as they seemingly lost our order. It was good when we got it. The guys had grouper and peas and rice and I had chicken and peas and rice and little salads too. We were introduced to the MP for the Exumas, and also met Bob's brother. (There are 17 siblings)
We left and stopped at the hardware store called Top to Bottom. It was a hoot and is filled into every nook and cranny but very organized. We found a new dinghy gas can...not inexpensive, but ours has a hole and duct tape is not a solution! Also found some screws we had been looking for to put a lock on the new doors.
Well back to the batteries. .. We went back to the shipping place taking the papers to the customs guy next door and then into the yard where all the containers were. Our batteries had not been unpacked yet so they moved a container and brought the one over that they were in, pulled all the stuff out of it by lift loader pallet- full by pallet-full, and finally pulled them out and with the lifter put them into the back of the pick up. We had them finally! One more stop at the lumberyard to pick up a sheet of plywood for a friend of Bob's, and then a stop at the phone company as he has been waiting for a year for a land line and we headed back to the marina.
When we got back to the boat Bob pulled the truck right down to the dock where we were 3 ft from the shore at the edge of the sea wall, and unloaded everything. Bill and Bob lugged them all down, into Wind Spirit, took out the old ones which Bob was happy to take off our hands. We have new batteries and they work!
I, meantime escaped to the laundry and am doing a load and sitting here in peace and quiet.

We are headed to George Town (GT) tomorrow on the water!

Last year we had a great time here in George Town with the Roberts and the Elseas and Christine, but didn’t convince anyone to join us down here this year. We hung out with folks on 2 boats we had met at Emerald Bay, Pattie Cakes and Tahani Li and met lots of other sailors. We went to Beach Church which was a new experience, but lovely to worship outside in all the glory of the sea and the trees and beach. Met a couple there who had just completed a 4 year circum-navigation with their 4 children, and were trying to figure out how to reintegrate their family into life on land. Met several other couples who had been sailing down here for almost 20 years. Talk about snowbirding!

We dinghied over to GT and went to the Gospel part of the Music and Heritage Festival. Had a great dinner out at Peace and Plenty and then went to the performance. We expected to hear some Gospel choral music but it was all very loud Christian Rock! We did enjoy some of it but the ears were hurting as we went back across the harbor in the dark with the wind a bit higher than we had hoped. It was a wet ride across the harbor but we made it safely and had some good laughs with Pattie Cakes.

We had drinks one lovely evening on Tahani Li, and delicious dinner another night on Patti Cakes and of course dinner on Wind Spirit. We did got to GT by water taxi driven by Elvis another evening for some Rake and Scrap Music which was fun too with dancing , music and internet all at the same place!

The beach always pulls us so we had beach time on the Exuma Sound and on the Elizabeth Harbour Side of Stocking island too. Bill climbed up to the Monument on Stocking island and said the view was terrific!

The grand finale at GT was a huge bonfire on the beach with a huge group of folks speaking English and French! It did end with a rain shower but was a fun evening too.

We arrived at Long island which is about 40 miles south and east of GT a couple of days ago (27^th)and have done laundry and eaten out and gone to the Atlantic Beach in Salt Pond. We are anchored in North Thompson Bay. There were 27 boats here last night many of whom we recognized from GT. Long Island Breeze Resort in Salt Pond is wonderful to sailors!

Tomorrow we will go to the island of Conception which is another National Trust Park. The weather is perfect to go there. We will be back here in a few days to wait for Bill’s family to come on the 7^th of April. Looks like Christine and Mark will join us at Cat Island as we start to work our way north again. Fun times to come! Great to share our wild adventure.

All is well on Wind Spirit! Pictures will follow in next blog!

The Park and on...

Sunset and silhouetted rocks before the storm!

We stayed 3 nights in Exuma Park and exploring in the dinghy. Bill did get into the water and we went up to the headquarters several times for the book exchange, internet, shopping :-0
We dinghied south along Wardrick Wells to Turtle Beach where we found the trail to hike to the east side of the island to Captive Beach.
Capive Beach and Hogg Cay across.

The view into the sound between Wardrick and Hog Cay was amazing. Blues and greens and rocks across with water shooting through a cave from the Atlantic reallyExuma Sound side of Hog. There are lots of Cays called Hog as think the early travelers and farmers here put their hogs out and just left them until they needed meat then went to hog Cay and got it!

The Well!

We walked back through a part of the island called Pirates lair which was a flat place hidden in the trees with a natural well where the pirates who hide their ships in the Hog cay anchorage hung out and got fresh water! Some specific evidence they have found in the plants around the well as when the pirates shook out their blankets to sleep seeds fell out from other parts of the world and grew!
On Captive beach!
Bill had a quick dip at turtle beach after our walk.
We left the park mid day Friday and went south to Sampson cay where we are anchored in a sheltered Harbor not far from the marina here. We went in to do some shopping just needed a few things like bread, fruit, eggs. After we found out one loaf of bread was $9.00 we didn't ask much more. Had dinner at the restaurant that night at the marina, and thought we were going to get the fresh lobster we saw them cleaning outside, but think they were frozen tails just so so, disappointing and of course expensive. Oh well maybe we will get fresh lobster someplace and just cook it ourselves!
Sunday we went exploring in the dinghy by Over Yonder Cay and Pipe Creek. So lovely and quiet. Some amazing homes there and being built. One with 3 huge windmills to provide power!
There is a very narrow rocky cut at the end of the island to get out to the sound. We may not try this one!
See the cut on the right! Lots of current too!
We will be here in this lovely protected place until Friday as a front is blowing through with rain and winds up to 40 knots. We are sitting tight, reading, knitting, napping, doing small projects, playing on the internet :-),watching boats scurry around and big ships coming and going. A defense force boat came in late last night dodging the sailboats and trawlers tucked into the harbor lights flashing...very dramatic entrance. This was a ferry late Sunday afternoon.
All is well on Wind Spirit!

Wonderful Waters!

We had a great motor down from Highbourne Cay to Norman Cay. Water was so still you could see down 20 feet. Norman Cay is well known for it's history as a former drug center run by a Columbian called Leder. they were closed down by US and Bahamian drug officials. The buildings are now falling down, but there is a great dock on the southeast end of the island. There is also a good paved landing strip and planes bring in guests for the small resort on Norman and for the larger resort on Wax Cay just to the south east. Guests are taken by boat to the Wax Cay from Norman. A Bahamian Defense Force boat was at the dock and the men were cleaning a bucketful of red snapper. guess they are running a line when they are on patrol!

The movie Blow with Johnny Depp is about Norman Cay. Bruce said it was good. We walked to the south end of the island to the dock and the beach. (forgot the camera) The view was wonderful but windier than where we were anchored on the west side. McDuffs is the well known Beach Bar with supposedly great burgers but was closed on Monday and too windy for the dinghy on Sunday so we missed that one. Met some folks when we were walking and they came over for sundowners on the boat. We saw the green flash!!!
Loves his Kindle!

We left Norman Cay on Tuesday coming south to the Exuma Land and Sea Park at Wardrick Wells. We had great east winds so were on a broad reach most of the way down to the park and made good time. We were able to have the watermaker on and made 6 gallons an hour. We took a mooring at Emerald Rock and went in the register in the morning. Picked up internet, but it is very limited here. Was not able to post the blog so it has grown over the week.



The colors of the water here are so amazing. Every color of blue and turquoise imaginable are all around us. The islands in the Bahamas are actually very arid and palm trees only grow where they have been planted but there are lots of palmettos low growing trees and Australian pines which were introduced, and they wish were not! The waters in the Bahamas have been over fished so the park is part of an attempt to to re-populate. More parks are in the development phase as this one has been so successful. One is near Georgetown.


We see very few birds or fish as we sail along. Last year in April in the park we saw white tropic birds who come here to breed. They arrive on the 1st of March and this year came on Feb. 29th as they don't know about leap year! We saw one flying on the 2nd in the morning... only the second sighting this year!
Bill, some work some play!

Right after we tied onto the mooring at the park we were visited by a small shark. The folks at the next boat were swimming off their boat later. They are braver than I am!We often see sharks and rays at marinas here where they hang around the fish cleaning dock for hand outs!

Well favorite weatherman Chris Parker has just finished his report so need to make breakfast and head to register. We just had a radio visit with Roy and Mary on Gideon after the weather. They are from our marina in Port Royal and are in Eluthera heading north to the Abacos. The Bahamas are made up of lots of groups of islands and is 700 miles long!

All is well on Wind Spirit as we head south with no specific schedule. We are generally headed to Georgetown on Great Exuma island and then on to Long Island to meet Bill's siblings, spouses and Mother for a week at Stella Maris.

Finally some pictures!

Further South

Further South...

This blog is out of position and belongs before the Bimini Blog. Apologies!
We left Ft. Pierce after a 3 days of work, cleaning, shopping, stowing provisions We spent a lovely Sunday with Pat and Bruce including Sunday supper and Superbowl for the guys and a good visit for Pat and I!
Since Bill had a few things to do we did not get away until afternoon on Monday. We stopped for a quick overnight in Stuart then early rainy morning continued on past Jupiter to North Lake Worth where we anchored just at sunset. We had been held up for 2+ hours at the Donald Ross Bridge just south of Jupiter. We just dropped the anchor on the edge of the channel and relaxed until the bridge finally opened!
Lake Worth was calm and a serene anchorage and we slept well. beautiful reflexions from the buildings around the lake.
Early Wednesday we headed south through the ICW and 25 bridges much to Bill's disgust as he did want to go outside. It was an interesting trip through amazingly wealthy areas and mangrove swamps and huge condos. We passed a condo complex in Deerfield that my Aunt and Uncle and a lot of cousins used to go to. and had since the 1950's. The bridges are quite well timed for the distance between them so it went more smoothly and faster than Bill had anticipated.
We arrived at Las Olas Marina, a Ft. Lauderdale Municipal Marina about 3:30 and Bill and Marilyn joined us just at dark after a bit of difficulty finding us due to my poor instructions. We did get them there though!
What a treat to have them with us for a few days. We had dinner on the boat. Unfortunately we had had to schedule the water maker repairs while they were there as we did not get there early enough to get it done ahead. Bill also help with the install of a new water tank gauge...now we know how much water we have and are using. The wind continued to blow and it rained on and off. We ended up exploring Ft. Lauderdale a good bit and of couse did some shopping thanks to friends and family. We were joined Thursday by Bill's sister Pat and her husband John who had been at a trawler school and then training on a trawler out on the water. They are looking for a boat to do the Great loop or circle, up the east coast and Hudson River, through the canals in upstate NY to the Great Lakes and back down the Ohio, Missouri, and Mississippi to the Gulf and a back east around FL. They will then be called Loopers!
We all had dinner together at the 15th Street Fishery. Lots more rain that night too.
Friend Bev. joined us for dinner on Wind Spirit on Friday evening and stopped by Saturday AM with a friend too.
Bill and Marilyn left mid-day Saturday to go to Ft. Myers and on to Sarasota to visit family.
Bill and I decided to chill at the marina another night as it was very windy to get off the dock, so went out for an early Valentines to a place Bev recommended called Coconuts which was the best place we had eaten. We wished we had gone there with our visitors!
Our weather window to cross over changed to the end of the week so we went on down the ICW and anchored in Baker Haulover Inlet...or at a park just across the river from the inlet. The anchorage is lovely . It is not near any services so is very quiet. We watched the most beautiful sunset there and dolphins were all around us jumping and swimming for almost an hour in the lake. We took the dinghy down but the motor was not doing well and would not start. Bill worked on it, and then a motor angel came by and stayed to help. We or they got it going but it was still running roughly. Ed Rivers (grandson of E. Rivers of Atlanta fame) lives on a very small boat! He is a paraplegic he told us, from a teen accident. He is a motor genius but this one wasn't easy. He and Bill looked at everything that afternoon and the next morning when it wouldn't start again. They decided it was the electrical system.

We pulled anchor and went north to the Hollywod Municiple 'Ariana to a slip after saying goodby to our angel who would not take anything except thanks, no cookies, no a meal, no$$. He was just an angel!

One of the reasons we went back north was that there is a bridge on the ICW only 57 feet above the water and we are 53 ft from the deck so too close for comfort. The other reason was the huge boat show started in Miami the 16th so did not think we would find a marina easily! We had called several with no response.

We rented a car the next morning, took the motor to the service folks there, did last minute shopping again...the third time! It was a good day on land and wend fun AND got a lot done. Took advantage of the car to have brunch and dinner out...smile!
Motor...needing one new spark plug (had just been serviced in St,Augustine in December) was ready early! We went to a huge West Marine in Ft Lauderdale ...always a dangerously expensive place to enter! Finally picked up some new dock lines as they were on sale!

We were ready to go! We have been working towards this since September!!!

Our weather window was Thursday through Saturday to cross the Gulf Stream, we went back through 2 bridges to the cut at Ft.Lauderdale and outside. Wind was of course on our nose so we motored south a couple of hours, in through Governors cut at Miami and tucked into a lovely anchorage behind Fisher Island that is close to the cut and where we had stayed once before. We tied on our new Jack lines, had dinner and went to bed...me only to lie awake, but Bill slept. The alarm went off at 4 AM and we left at 5:30 after coffee, a breakfast snack, a final look at the charts, final check of email and Facebook, texting to Christine, and oil check. The city lights were brilliant, and we sailed out with them to our stern just as the sky was lightening in the east. It was an amazing start to our adventure!