May-June Update...getting to the US

This picture was taken from the deck in 15 feet of water!

I know, I know, it has been a very long time since I have done an update.

The day I returned from Colorado we left Marsh Harbor and headed to Tahiti Beach. Tahiti Beach is a neat little beach that becomes a very large beach at low tide.   We spent a few days at Tahiti Beach collecting a few sea biscuits and hanging out on the Beach with Mike and Kathy from Sapphire drinking Bloody Marys. Not so bad.

We listened to the Islanders band at Sea Spray. This band is one we always try to go see whenever we can, they sing a variety of music and are very good. The singer is fantastic! We saw them at least four times while we were in the Abacos. After we were at Sea Spray, we went over to Cracker Peas for the “Full Moon Party”. This was a much younger crowd so we did not stay too long. As you know we are young at heart but there a few places we just do not quite fit in.

     Captains note:
     This is not totally true. I thought we fit in fairly well. However, it did look like one of those "Spring Break" commercials you see on TV...Girls Gone Wild!
     So you can see why my opnion is different.

We stayed one more night at Tahiti Beach and went to Lynyard Cay. This is our favorite place to anchor in the Abacos.   Steve and Mike speared a few grouper and Kathy and I got a few conchs. For dinner we had cracked conch and grouper fingers. Yum!

With a weather change on the way, we left Lynyard Cay and went back to Marsh Harbor. The weather this year has been much different than last year. This year we have had many more thunder storms with plenty of lightening and rain. We have had to change our plans a number of times. That’s why they are written in sand.

One Day in Marsh Harbor, Steve and I decided to get off the boat and go to the Snack Shack and get a hamburger (unbelievable hand made burgers). We had been on the boat for a few days due to the rain and just needed to get off the boat for a while. Unsure what we were thinking, but we naturally got caught in probably the worst rain storm we have seen all season. We looked like two drowned rats by the time we got back to the boat. The hamburger was really good though.

May 23 (Sat) we left Marsh Harbor and went to Fisher’s Bay.   We went into Grabber’s (restaurant/bar) for lunch with Mike and Kathy (Sapphire) and fortunately the band Coco Loco from Coco Beach, FL was playing for the Memorial Day weekend. Uh-Oh, you know what that means, we will be spending a lot of time at Grabber’s listening to good music.  Steve got to know the entire band the first day so that made it even more fun.

May 24 (Sun) still in Fisher’s Bay, we went to Pirates Cove and then to Nipper’s as Mike and Kathy had never been to Nipper’s for the Sunday Pig Roast. This Pig Roast attracts people from all the other Cays around. They make special ferry runs from the other Cays to bring people to Nippers on Sunday. It can get a little crazy at Nippers. We often times fit right in. Once the rain came we left and went to Grabber’s to listen to Coco Loco. It was my turn on Sunday to be the social butterfly; pretty sure I met everyone at the restaurant. I somehow managed to get a fisherman to share his catch of the day with me. He gave me enough Mahi Mahi for Sapphire and Fine Lion to have a very nice meal.

     Captain's Note:
     It was as if Kim was running for mayor of Great Guana Cay. She worked the place better than Bill Clinton would have done. We weren't sure how she got
     on the fishing boat and talked them out of a bunch of fresh Mahi Mahi, but the dinner was great!

After Fisher’s Bay we went to Baker’s Bay and did some shelling on Spoil Island (Shell Island or known as Hermit Crab Island by my sister, Debbie). I walked all the way around the Island (obviously not very big) and got some nice shells.

May 26 went through Whale Cut without a glitch.   Whale cut can be a big problem in bad weather. Ended up at Green Turtle Cay anchored outside. Had a great steak dinner on the boat that night. Nice evening until of course the storms hit around 2:30 a.m.   We woke up to another boat dragging down on us. The wind was blowing 30 - 40+ knots and the rain was so heavy it was hard to see. The wind was changing directions so fast we had already done a 360 degree turn. The dragging boat got everything under control, whew… now we can go back to bed. That lasted about 5 minutes. We were lying in bed and Steve says that wave did not hit us right. Bummer, now we were dragging and we were very close to a woman single handing. We were so close and the wind was blowing so much we had to put the boat in reverse with anchor down and hope it did not catch or else we would have hit the other boat. It was the only time I believe Steve and I were glad that most of the bottom where we were was grass and not sand.

We stayed out in the storm doing circles around the anchorage until the weather let up. As Steve put it we were touring the cul-de-sac. It was raining so hard it hurt when it hit us and because we could not keep the bow into the wind, we had to keep circling; there were times when you just could not take cover from the pounding rain. Around 4:45 a.m. we finally got the anchor down.   Too much adrenalin to go to bed I just made coffee and stayed up. Such excitement! It was not too bad, just an inconvenience.

May 28 -29 went to Manjack, Steve and Mike snorkeled the reefs on the outside and Steve speared a real nice grouper. We found a lot of Conch in the Mangrove streams.   Again another storm, at least this one was during the day.   We drug anchor again, but this time no one was behind us so we just kept dragging with the anchor out until it re-set and dug in. No Problem, Mon!   We changed our plans to leave Manjack after May 31 due to bad weather. We then went to Grande Cay. This is next to Walker’s Cay and in the very northern Abacos. When you leave Grande Cay, you go out a cut and are in the open North Atlantic Ocean right away. This eliminates a trip across the Bahama Bank to get to the Gulf Stream.

June 2 we left Grande Cay heading for Charleston, SC. Had to wait on the diesel boat to get into Grande Cay before we could leave. Got the fuel around 10:00 and waited for high tide so we could get through the cut. We weighed anchor around 12:30 P.M. on June 2 and arrived in Charleston 50 hours later on June 4 at 3:00. We had to motorsail the entire way. No wind and it was very hot. We did get some wind push for 8 – 10 hours on Wed. night. We fished and did not catch a thing. We did have two big hits, however.

We love Charleston. Possibly too much. The restaurants are great, the music is incredible. I have heard some music that is just amazing. Of course it is a retail Mecca and has a huge grocery store. You know, the things that are just not available in the Bahamas. To be honest, I do not miss all those conveniences.   It is so much easier to make a decision on what to buy when you have fewer choices. We plan to stay in Charleston until Sat June 13. We will do another overnight to Beaufort, NC. We will spend a few nights at Cape Lookout and then make the four hour trip to Oriental. We will be taking our time getting home.   I look forward to a nice long shower and sitting on our porch in the morning having coffee, but really that is about it. I love Oriental but I love being on the boat more.

Until next time...

Kim and Steve