Great Snorkeling

Wilson City Ruins
N 26 32.439 W 76 57.979

The cruising books gave us the straight story. We sailed down toward the North Bar Cut today. Our target was a place called Sandy Cay where there is an anchorage and there are dinghy moorings near the reef.

At first, we landed the dinghy on the beach and tried to walk around the island, hoping to find a beach on the reef side. No luck, there was just razor sharp coral on that side of the Cay, so we had to give that idea up. Instead, we took the dinghy around the Cay and out to the moorings. It was hard to avoid the coral on the way out. Finally we got there and tied up.

Our problem with snorkeling from the dinghy, is that it is exceedingly hard to get out of or back in to the dinghy from the water. It nearly tips over. For this use, inflatable rubber dinghys are much superior. We compromised by going one at a time.

As soon as I dove in the water and looked down, everything was suddenly worth the trouble. There was lots of live coral and wonderful tropical fish. I especially liked swimming among a school of angel fish; that was exhilarating. After I struggled back in to the dinghy, it was Libby's turn. She was equally enchanted. After about 15 minutes thought, she felt chilled and came back out. Next time we'll wear wet suits. Libby would be glad that I didn't photograph her climbing back in to the
dinghy. The only way to do that is to flop your body like a walrus. It is hardly a dignified action.

Our disposable underwater camera ran out of film, so I decided to try again with our digital underwater camera. The last time we tried it, the screen went black and I feared that it wasn't really waterproof. This time the same thing happened. The screen went black. However, there was no leakage around the doors, and after 5 minutes back above the surface the screen came back on. Could that be a feature? to turn off the LCD screen when under water?

We're anchored tonight, near by. If tomorrow is calm again, I want to go back and snorkel some more. Tonight I'm going to shave my mustache. It lets water leak in to my face mask when snorkeling. If beard but no mustache makes me look too ridiculous, I'll go clean shaven all the way.

Escape from Marsh Harbor

Near Hope Town, Bahamas
N 26 32.461 W 076 58.001

This morning I vacillated, unable to decide on our next destination. Libby didn't have anything to suggest either. We did an engine oil change, then we tanked off with diesel fuel ($4.95/gallon wow!). After lunch I decided that anything was better than indecision so I said, "Let's leave."

Part of the reason for indecision is that we have only good choices for the next few days. We'll have 3-4 days of nearly zero wind. That's perfect weather for snorkeling on the reefs.

We could return to Manjack and Green Turtle Cays. It is much less touristy up there. Down at this end of the Abacos, there are lots of resorts and vacation houses. Up at Manjack and Green Turtle is it less spoiled. Both ends offer excellent snorkeling.

On the other hand, we haven't been south to Sandy Cay and Little Harbor yet. Further, there is a national land and sea park down there where fishing is prohibited. We've heard that the fish are more plentiful on the reefs in this park. So that's where we're going.

On the way, we hoped to spend a day in Hope Town on Elbow Cay. We couldn't get in however. Hope Town harbor has only moorings, no anchorage. We called ahead, but all the moorings were booked. Too bad. We're anchored not too far away from Hope Town, but we won't be trying to dinghy in there tonight. Perhaps on the way back we can see Hope Town.

p.s. Last night we played Balderdash again with Leon and Kim and Ron and Jethro. Everyone we've tried that game on loves it.

Snail Mail

Marsh Harbor
No LL

I often say that the cruising life is wonderful. There are only two things which don't work well at all for cruisers like us. The first is medical insurance (especially when you're living in 13 or more states and countries each year). The second is snail mail.

The post office hates it when we call their service snail mail. But the shoe really fits. When we lived in Sweden, we learned how spoiled one can be by good mail service. Despite the fact that Sweden is 1500 miles long, all mail send today, will be delivered the next morning. There is no need for express mail and no need for Fedex or UPS-like companies to deliver mail faster.

In the USA, it takes 5 or more working days to get priority mail. A simple first class letter takes who knows how long. When we are on the move all the time, we never know where to send our mail to. We don't know where we will be 5 days from now. We don't know for sure the future ports we will call in because we frequently change our mind about sailing plans. Therefore, we have our daughter Jennifer collect our mail. She takes care of anything urgent. Then, 3-4 times per year she sends
a package of back mail.

Its a luxury to be in one place for a long time, like Vero or Marathon, because we can have stuff mailed there directly to us. Sometimes though, even that doesn't work. I ordered a part for our radar when we arrived in Marathon, and three weeks later when we left, it still hadn't arrived. I wrote it off as lost. However, our friends on Albion noticed that it arrived several days after we left. They'll, very kindly, forward it to Jenny. Thanks Albion.

When we got to the Bahamas, I noticed that our Certificate of Documentation for Tarwathie expires 3/31/2008. Uh Oh. That might give us trouble if we tried to re-enter the USA without any valid certificate on board. Well, Jenny and technology came to our rescue. Jenny managed to get a new certificate for us in only one week (super fast!). The next problem was to get it too us. Using snail mail in the Bahamas is even more fraught with problems than US mail. Jenny had the solution. She scanned
the certificate, emailed it to us and just now I printed it on our on board color printer. Thanks Jenny.

To send outgoing mail from the Bahamas, there is another local solution. The cruiser's VHR radio net every day has a "mail call" agenda item. They look for volunteers who are returning to the states, and who are willing to carry mail with them to be posted there. If you merely drop it in a mail box here, it could be a week or more before it gets picked up.

I'll tell on more story about mail. In 2004, before my retirement, I was in the middle of a big IT project that spanned the years 2002-2005. We did everything electronically. One day, I had to send a document to our vendor for a signature. It occurred to me that I had not been to a post office in years, nor had I received any external mail since starting my job at NYISO, nor could I remember having seen a mail box in many years. Libby paid the bills at home, so I never saw snail mail there
either. I (foolishly) thought that perhaps they banned mail boxes or even abolished snail mail after the anthrax scare in 2001. Anyhow, I sent an email to the secretary of Mr. Jones (fictitious name) saying, "What is Mr. Jones' snail mail address?" She replied, "I'm sorry, but Mr. Jones does not have a snail mail account." Jeez.

The Cold Front Passage

Marsh Harbor
N 26 32.845 W 077 03.485

For three days now, we have been hearing about a "very nasty" cold front that will pass over us at 1400 on Saturday. First it caused tornadoes in Tennessee, then again in Northern Florida. The forecaster said that the front passage may be accompanied by squalls with gale force wind. All that forewarning and waiting leads to anxiety. Well, today we were all prepared. Anchors set and things on deck secured. By 1300 we could hear thunder, by 1330 we could see the lighting, black sky and scud,
and the front passed over us at 1350 (pretty good 3 day forecast come to think of it)

I sat anchor watch up behind the dodger to watch what would happen. Our next door neighbor, a 40 foot ketch from Annapolis, had anchored too close to us, and sure enough, as the wind clocked from South to Northwest, he came within 10 feet of us. No collision though so it wasn't a big deal. Also, the gale-force squalls never hit us on this spot, so the event was less dramatic than feared.

Then looking around, I noticed that all 200 boats anchored in the harbor had swung around on their anchors to point NW except three of them that were still pointing South. Evidently, those three were aground. Low tide is at 1444 today, so they'll have to wait for the tide to come in to float again.

Funniest, was a trawler anchored near us. Two days ago, our friends Kim and Leon on Gypsy complained that that trawler had anchored right on their nose up at Manjack Cay, despite a square mile or so of other places he might have chosen to anchor. That made them nervous because if the trawler dragged, they would be the victims. Now, the same trawler came in to Marsh Harbor and anchored on their nose once again. However Leon said, "We are in the NW corner of the anchorage. When the wind clocks
around to NW, all those boats in front of me now, will be behind me. Then I'll feel secure." Guess what, after the wind did clock around, Gypsy was on the nose of the trawler. The trawler then took up his anchor, motored around Gypsy and re-anchored right on Gypsy's nose once again. I won't blog the name of the trawler, but I suggest that a good name would be Nemesis.

A Social Whirl

Marsh Harbor OII Internet Cafe
No LL

We didn't plan on staying long in Marsh Harbor, but we're getting caught up in the social whirl and enjoying it.

Our first night here, we had dinner aboard A PLACE (a Westsail 42) with Ron and Jethro, plus Leon and Kim from GYPSY. The next night, we had the same four on board Tarwathie for dinner and Balderdash. Last night we went aboard ENGLISH ROSE to meet with Bob and Jan from Poughkeepsie. Tonight we'll have dinner aboard IDUNNO, and tomorrow night aboard GYPSY.

Yesterday morning I went on a day sail with Ron, skipper of A PLACE. Ron wanted to see how our Monitor self-steering vane worked, and to just pick up sailing technique from a fellow sailor.

Ron is a very experienced sailor. He has some chilling tales to tell about sailing Hobie Cat sized catamarans in the surf in New Jersey. He told of breaking the cats into pieces in the 8 foot waves, and of getting rescued by the Coast Guard several times, and of rescuing other people.

Ron and I left Marsh Harbor and set course for nearby Man O War Cay. We had a nice breeze, about 16 knots. With Ron watching and asking questions, I was self conscious. I explained how to set up the monitor, and I stressed how important it was to trim the sails so that not much steering was needed. Tarwathie loved it. She flew like a falcon. We zipped over to Man O War Cay and back at 6.5 knots and 30 degrees of heel. I can't remember when Tarwathie has ever sailed faster in those conditions. I should learn to follow my own advice and pay more attention to sail trim when I don't have guests.

Last night a thunderstorm passed over and the wind briefly reversed direction. A boat nearby had their anchor break loose and they scrambled to re-set it in the wind and rain as the man and woman aboard yelled at each other. That doesn't make for good on board relations. I, and most of the other skippers I could see, all sat in the cockpit standing anchor watch until the storm passed.