Two States Down, Two to Go

We've made it to South Carolina!





We arrived in in Isle of Hope, Georgia at about 6:50 Thursday night, with just enough light to dock the boat after completing 70 ICW miles (plus about 2 - 3 back down the river where we had spent the previous night). It was a good, long day, but our starboard engine had started having trouble at higher RPMs, and we were headed into the wind and current for too much of the day. Ben wanted to get the engine looked at, and since both needed their 100 hour service we decided to stay at Isle of Hope Marina on Friday, since it was an authorized Yamaha dealer. Isle of Hope didn't have a travel lift, and to change the lower unit oil the motors needed to be raised. Ben decided that to save the $300 haul out fee, he would pull the engines out the top of the boat himself, basically deciding to take on the most intense cross-fit workouts of his life which included dead lifting two 150 lb engines multiple times, high enough to clear the engine cowling, and back extensions while laying on his stomach in the dinghy in current, detaching and then reattaching the through bolts and engine tilt pulleys which were slightly above his head, all while solving mind puzzles which included detaching (and then reattaching) the electrical harness from both motors. There were a few times he did not think he would be successfully able to remount the motors, but despite being sore and bruised he is rightly proud of himself. After having the spark plugs changed the starboard motor is once again keeping up.

While Ben was working on the motors I borrowed the loaner car and went to Super Walmart for some grocery shopping and also managed to pick up Mad Men Season 2 on DVD. Big news since we are down to our last 5 episodes of Friday Night Lights Season 1, which would leave us out of new series having finished Dexters Seasons 3 and 4 and Mad Men Season 1. I had directions to Piggly Wiggly as well as Super Walmart, but decided to try Walmart first since we needed zip ties and a vacuum (which I forgot to look for), and I wanted to check out the DVD selection. We hadn't been too impressed with a Piggly Wiggly previously, so I decided to also check out the "super" part of the Super Walmart. I was mostly impressed with the fruit and veggie selection. It's no Whole Foods, Harris Teeter or Publix, but it rivals a Piggly Wiggly or Food Lion, plus you can apparently pick up paint or fabric from the hardware or sewing sections.

After the motors were reinstalled and were started to ensure the reinstall was correct (and then a fuse replaced when one of the motors wouldn't turn over), we went out to celebrate Ben's success. The marina welcome pamphlet described Jalepenos in nearby Sandfly as being authentic mexican. We weren't really sure what to expect but weren't counting on authenticity. We figured it was a good sign when we got there and the restaurant was packed. We put our names on the list and were told it would be an hour to an hour and ten minute wait and we decided (as usual) to try and get seats at the bar. We got one seat right away, and each started out with a margarita. It was only about 30 - 40 minutes before they called our name, but at the same time someone else left the bar and we were able to snag two seats together. Our food was better than we expected - the meat was all cooked really well although there was a little bit lacking in vegetable department (except for the salsa and a few onions, I don't think there were any veggies). The most amazing part though was when the bill came. It was under $55, including a large tip for both of our dinners, 5 margaritas, and guac and queso for the tortilla chips. And there was plenty of food - we had the leftovers for an early lunch the next day.

We got a late start leaving Isle of Hope because we needed to get gas and pump out and they didn't open until 8, and then we got an even later start because we realized we hadn't returned the bathroom key and needed to turn around (we only lost about 20 minutes). We made the easy trip to Beaufort (SC - pronounced Bew-fort as in rhymes with Eww - Fort) and were planning on anchoring on the north side of the bridge. We ended up chickening out when the 10 - 12 ft anchorage mentioned in the book ended up being more like 20 ft, and we realized that even though the tides were advertised as being less intense, there was still a 7 foot tidal range. Since we had already gone under the bridge we decided to dock at Ladys Island Marina, and take the dingy back under the bridge for dinner. Once the no see 'ums started biting we decided to close up the boat and head under the bridge. Since the dingy trip was a little bit longer we fully prepared, taking two life jackets, the spot light and a radio. Really the things you should normally take, but sometimes we don't when it's a really short ride. We tied up to the town dingy dock.

We had remembered from our trip down that we had some good meals and I sadly realized we should have taken better notes at the various restaurants (and marinas) we stopped at. I thought the wood fire pizza place we ate at was good, but Ben could only remember the overweight bartender talking with one of the other employees the whole time we were sitting at the bar. We got a margarita pizza, which turned out to be ok, although it would have been excellent if it would have been left in the oven for about 30 more seconds. Then we went to the fancier of the two other restaurants for a main course, wine and a delicious, chocolatey dessert. We were taking our time because we were right near the middle of the tides so the longer we waited the easier the dingy ride back under the bridge. While we were eating a fog descended, thick enough so we could barely make out the bridge from the town dock. Like a pirate holding out a gas lantern, I held out the spotlight so Ben could slowly navigate us back under the bridge to the marina.

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Fixed Bridges, Opening Bridges and No Bridges

Since we've been back on the ICW we've passed under about 11 opening bridges and countless fixed (65 ft or higher) bridges. Of those 11 bridges, one had already been replaced by a fixed bridge, and was open, one was a railroad bridge that is open by default and only two were restricted to a specific schedule, meaning, if I counted correctly, seven were open on demand, by hailing the bridge tender on VHF. Lucky for us, we arrived at the Coronado Beach Highway Bridge only six minutes before the scheduled opening, and we arrived at the Bridge of Lions and hailed the bridge tender who he said wasn't waiting for us, so we had two minutes to make the 3:00 opening - we made it. We caught one bridge tender asleep at the job. Apparently he had turned the gain on his radio way up and could not hear us hailing him. Luckily at some point he looked down from his perch and saw us pirouetting south of the bridge and hailed us. He was very apologetic as he opened the bridge.

Most bridge tenders are uncannily skilled at their jobs. The conversation basically goes as follows, on channel 09 or 13 depending on the state:

Us: XYZ Bridge, XYZ Bridge, XYZ Bridge, this is Whisper.
XYZ Bridge Tender: Yes, vessel hailing XYZ Bridge, this is XYZ Bridge.
Us: We're the north bound sailing catamaran approximately 100 yards south of XYZ Bridge, requesting an opening.
XYZ Bridge: Maintain speed and continue approaching and I'll open the bridge for you.
XYZ Bridge (Apparently Optional): Can I get the vessel name and home port?
Us (If requested): Whisper, Deltaville, Virginia
Us: Thanks, Whisper standing by on 09 (or 13) and 16.
Us (after passing under the bridge): XYZ Bridge, thanks for the opening.
XYZ Bridge (also, apparently optional): Have a good (sometimes "safe") day (sometimes "trip").

One of the reasons I have been impressed by their skill is that if we maintain speed, as requested, they are able to time the opening of the bridge pretty perfectly.

All the bridges (either fixed, or opening) are marked in one of the guidebooks, with both the bridge name and ICW mile marker. I have been keeping track of when we pass each bridge, and it makes it easy for us to keep track of where we are in relation to marinas and anchorages also in the guidebooks. Since we've hit Georgia, we've only gone under two bridges: Jekyll Creek Highway Bridge (fixed, 65 ft, mile marker 684.3) and MacKay River/Lanier Highway Bridge (fixed, 65 ft, mile marker 674.5). This makes it pretty disorienting since it's really hard to tell the progress we've made in ICW miles, although we are able to follow along on the chart plotter.

**Later that night: We're now docked at Isle of Hope Marina in northern Georgia. We passed one more bridge since I wrote the entry this afternoon - Skidaway Bridge (Double Bascule, 22 ft, mile marker 592.6) which is restricted between 4:30 pm and 6:30 pm and we showed up at 6:11. The bridge tender also deviated from his script with a little Bob Barker (or should I say Drew Carry), saying "Come on thru captain" right as he opened it at 6:30.

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Pillow Overboard: Cocoa Beach to St Augustine

On the way to Cocoa Beach the wind took one of the pillows I made last summer overboard. We worked quickly, bringing in the jib and turning the boat around. Ben pulled up along side and from the transom steps I was able to rescue the swimming pillow. Good thing too, because if we couldn't rescue the pillow in the flat, calm waterway, under power and only the jib, it would not be a good sign.




Sunday morning, leaving Cocoa Beach there was a fog advisory, and visibility was down to less than a quarter of a mile. We used the chart plotter and radar, and kept a sharp look out until the fog started to lift around 9 am. It is a little unnerving to see a bridge appear out of nowhere, but we were both impressed at how useful the radar was, we were able to match up the marks on the chart plotter to the marks on the radar, and then as they appeared, to the marks in the real world. Once the fog cleared, it was a mostly uneventful, although long, day. We stopped for gas and filled up the water tanks (free water!), but other than that went from about 7:15 am until anchoring in Daytona after sunset at 7:00 pm, making 65 ICW miles.




In Cocoa Beach we slept in (until 7!) but since then, in Daytona and St Augustine we have been up and underway for the sunrise. From Daytona, St Augustine was an easy 54 ICW miles, so we were moored just north of the Bridge of Lions after the 3 pm opening, which gave us a few hours to enjoy the town of St Augustine. We had high hopes of making it to the Castillo de San Marcos, but we settled for viewing it from the boat, and headed to a Irish Pub to get out of the sun for a few hours. We also took advantage of the showers at the St Augustine Municipal Marina and ate dinner out at a Spanish Tapas restaurant, The Tastings. Dinner was ok - the calamari was excellent, but didn't compare to the braised lamb sandwiches Ben made for lunch (score another one for the pressure cooker). The restaurant was down a cute little alley with a brick road. After dinner we got ice cream cones a few doors down at a coffee shop and ice cream store. The barista described the mint chocolate chip ice cream as the best mint chocolate chip ice cream they've ever had, so we both went with that. We each had a scoop on a waffle cone, which we enjoyed as we walked along the water, past Whisper, to the dingy dock at the marina.




Yesterday we headed to Fernandina Beach, making it another 61 ICW miles. The good news is that one of the guidebooks picks back up right around the Jacksonville/Fernandina Beach/Georgia border area. It is our best guidebook, so although we have done very well finding anchorages and mooring balls so far, it will now get a little bit easier.

Tonight we are anchored at the Two Way Fishing Camp Marina, a few miles up a little river from ICW mile mark 660 - so about 57 ICW miles. Not too bad when you consider some how the current was against us all day today, and we didn't get up until 7:30 because we were up at 4 am tightening up the lines on the mooring ball which the shifting currents were banging against the boat. We opted to dock tonight and are glad to have the heaters pumping, and all for only $45, including the electric!

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Last Days in the Bahamas, Crossing, First Days in the States

On Monday (Valentine's Day) we stayed put anchored at Great Sale Cay, since the weather didn't look good for crossing in the next few days. The only other boat in the anchorage left during breakfast and we had the anchorage to ourselves until right before sunset when another catamaran showed up. We went for a great little dingy ride around the entire anchorage, and a little walk among the mangroves. The anchorage was one of the quietest places I've ever been - no planes, cars, or really any sign of human life besides the us and the two other boats we saw.

Tuesday morning we woke up and headed the 45 miles from Great Sale to West End. We had a good day of motor sailing over the Little Bahama bank and said good bye to the super clear water as we headed around Grand Bahama Island and into Old Bahama Bay.

At Old Bahama Bay we also said hello to fast internet. I think it's the fastest internet we've had since Costa Rica! Ben used Google Voice to call Chris Parker and Bill from work. Chris Parker, the weather guru, said the weather looked better for crossing Thursday, which is what it seemed like from his forecast that morning on the SSB as well. We both also called home to update our families on our float plan.

On Wednesday we had a lot to do in the morning - clean the boat, clean and fill the water tanks, clean ourselves (shower), and grocery store shopping. We had heard from the bartender that the hotel/resort had a shuttle into town, so about 11:00 we went over to find out how that worked. She said we could borrow bikes since the next shuttle wasn't until 11:30, but I had taken quite the tumble down the stairs (into the galley) Monday night, and we had been working hard all morning so we decided to wait for the shuttle. The shuttle took us to the grocery (convenience) store and the liquor store. At the convenience store we were able to pick up a few staples to get us through the next few days, including our last loaf of fresh Bahamian bread. At the liquor store we were able to stock up on rum for the rest of our trip (don't tell customs, I think we're only allowed to bring in 2 liters, but we exceeded that a little). After those two stops the shuttle driver turned down a back road to a little tiny restaurant to pick up a large lunch order for many of the workers back at the resort. When we discovered that's what the locals were eating we ordered two conch burgers to go!

Since we finished all the work we needed to do we headed down to the beach bar to enjoy our last day in the Bahamas. It was pretty windy to sit on the beach, but enjoyed our last opportunity to watch the clear, green/blue water.

After the beach bar we gave Chris Parker another call. He said Thursday was do able for the crossing, but Friday seemed a little better. We decided we'd probably wait until Friday and went out to eat.

Thursday morning we woke up at what was becoming normal time - 6:30 am for Chris Parker's broadcast. Between Chris and the NOAA forecasts we decided at that point Thursday was sounding a little better than Friday. We decided to head out and if it seemed possibly rough to turn back in an hour or two. We ended up having an incredible day of motor dead down wind with our small head sail out. We were surfing down waves making excellent time. We anchored just south of Peanut Island at about 4 pm but missed customs/immigration by just minutes so we couldn't leave the boat. It was ok though, we enjoyed a beer, watched a few small boats sailing in the lake, and blew our conch at sunset.

Friday we took care of gas and customs/immigration by 8:30 am. We were a little worried when we went to customs because we realized a cruise ship had just pulled up, but we didn't have any problems and it didn't take much time at all. Since there were 9 drawbridges in the next section of the ICW we did some inlet research and decided to go back out the Lake Worth Inlet and head north to the Ft Pierce Inlet. We ended up having another excellent day under full sail. Both inlets were a little squirrelly. While headed out the Lake Worth Inlet the wind was about 15 knots and the waves were pretty significant. Around the same time we started having trouble with our chartplotter and almost headed back, but we stuck it out and were glad we did - we ended up making it all the way to Vero Beach, which is 65 ICW miles. Coming in the Fort Pierce inlet, the current was really strong, as warned in the book. We thought we would be ok because we were going in on a rising tide, but the current was still significant, and the current, waves and tides made the seas a little confused. The only problem we had was when our starboard motor died (and has continued to die since). Bad news, of course this occurred right before a holiday weekend. The good news - a pod of dolphins welcomed us back to the ICW.

During the sail we saw jumping, spinning sharks. It was probably the coolest "nature" thing Ben and I have seen (I've probably said that before...). One of the sharks ended up jumping about 15 feet from the boat, which is when we finally realized, "THEY'RE SHARKS!!" A little bit of google and we were able to identify them as spinner sharks.

We moored for the evening at the Vero Beach Municipal Marina and dingied to the restaurant for dinner since we were almost completely out of food on the boat. The bar was PACKED, but after a drink and a half we were able to snag seats at the bar. I was very sad the restaurant did not have a house rum punch, I guess we're really back in the states.

Saturday morning we went to the farmers market in Vero Beach and caught a cab to the Publix. The cab was worth it - we had a lot to stock up on. And all this before 10:00 am, which should allow us to get almost a full day on the ICW under our belts. Being on the ICW is being back to the grind, following the magenta line on the chart down a pretty narrow channel. There are a lot of boats out, fishing and enjoying the beautiful Florida weather. It's not too bad, but it reconfirmed our decision to go outside yesterday, especially since we missed so many opening bridges.

We anchored just south of the Cocoa Twin Highway Bridges at ICW mile marker 897, which means we made over 50 miles today even though we didn't start until 10! Our goal of 50 miles per day seems too easy - although I'm sure there will be a few days that we want to stop and sightsee, or need to stop and do laundry, or just can't bear to keep the boat in the ditch for 8 hours, so I think the 50 miles a day goal is still a good one. We had some trouble setting the anchor, but we persevered and got it set. Also, the motor didn't die once, so it's possible we won't need to worry!

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We're In Florida!

The weather window cleared and we made it from West End to Lake Worth today in record time. We were going between 6 and 8 knots, up to 9 to 10 surfing down waves, making the trip in just over 9 hrs. We just missed immigration - they closed at 4, so we're stuck on the boat tonight but will check in tomorrow morning when they open, and then start the trip north.

More on the sail from Great Sale to West End once I'm not just on the iPhone.



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Location:N Lake Way,Palm Beach,United States

Weather: Wet and Waiting for a Window

Since we haven't had (reliable) internet in a few days, I've updated this blog locally in spurts, but haven't been able to post anything. I probably should just remove all references to "yesterday" or "tonight" for clarity, but I'll just try and add some notes to make it clear. We'll see how it goes.

After not docking for close to three weeks we docked two nights in a row at Green Turtle Club and Spanish Cay Marina. And, after not plugging in since we've been in the Bahamas, even splurged for power the first night.




Since leaving Marsh Harbor, we spent one night on a mooring ball in Hope Town and a second night on a mooring in Man-O-War. Between Hope Town and Man-O-War we did an afternoon sail down to Tahiti Beach to hit one of the few bars in the Abacos we had missed up to that point - Cracker P's. The house rum punch (a screwdriver, or shotgun?) was excellent, Ben tried some very smooth Cuban rum, and my fish sando was pretty good, but they do some awful things to conch. We first had the grilled conch, which clearly on the menu describes the process - marinated in coconut rum, wrapped in tin foil and grilled. It was pretty bad, so Ben decided to try the conch sandwich, which we incorrectly assumed would be more of a standard Bahamian fried conch sandwich. Unfortunately, it was the same coconut rum marinated affair, just on a bun. We cut our loses and headed to Man-O-War.




The excitement in (the dry town of) Man O War: I bought a very cute shoulder bag souvenir of the trip made by the old women at the Sail Shop, and we ate ice cream cones. Good thing we got those ice cream cones in because since then, it's been cold!

Thursday we had an uneventful passage (the best kind) through Whale Cay. The 1 - 2 ft rollers looked flat as a lake compared to the trip in December, but we missed Skeedadle braving the trail in front of us. We turned into Black Sound to have Abaco Yacht Services change the upper unit oil changed in the prodigal son motor (because of the new power head, Yamaha recommended that be done at about 20 hours).

The wind picked up while we were having lunch and getting the oil changed and was sustained 20 - 23 knots, gusting to 30 as we headed into White Sound. We should have taken that as a sign to anchor, but we were lured into the Green Turtle Club by their Dining for Dockage Winter Special - the price of our dockage would be applied to our meal, so basically we had an expensive but tasty meal at the restaurant which also covered our dockage and electricity for the night. Because of the wind, the docking was possibly as bad as anything the entire trip, except Charleston. We managed not to hit anything and learned the best way to pull a boat up against a dock in 30 mile an hour cross winds (two lines, on the same cleat, one person on the dock taking up slack on one line and one person on the boat taking up slack on the other line). We almost had a second disaster after dinner. As we were just walking out of the restaurant it started to sprinkle, which turned into a downpour just as we made it to the boat, were closing all the hatches and zipping up the windows. A few minutes later and our bunk and electronics (all charging on the chart table) would have been drenched.

Since that cold front the wind has been from between the NW and NE, which is not great for heading towards West End or for crossing the gulf stream. Many of the anchorages between the Sea of Abaco and West End are exposed to the W and NW, and crossing the gulf is not recommended when the wind is from any part of the north. Now that we are out of Cruiser's Net range, we have been waking up by 6:30 every morning to tune into Chris Parker on 4045, but as of Saturday it looked like the first possible crossing date is Wednesday.



Friday we sailed/motored 15 miles from Green Turtle to Spanish Cay, which is one of few places in the area protected from the northwest. Protected is a little bit generous, there is a marina, with a breakwater, which during low tide cuts down on the chop. During high tide it's a bit of a washing machine. Since we only had 15 miles to travel, we stopped for lunch at Powell Cay, and as suggested by the guidebook, walked up to the top of the "bluff" to get a view of the entire anchorage.




At Spanish Cay it looked like we might be the only ones in the marina for the night, but were joined by Maciek and Christina on Calypso, which was very exciting because not only did we have company, but they were young! They are on the second half of their year long honeymoon - the first six months were spent backpacking in South America, and now they have until June to sail the Bahamas. We are jealous!




Saturday we weren't quite sure what to do, it was still raining and there were some pros to staying put - we didn't have to worry about the weather (too much) and we could go inside the restaurant/bar/game room to escape the damp boat. We also had (very spotty) internet. We decided to stay for awhile and do two loads of laundry (for a total of $20! It was necessary, someone was out of essentials). After the laundry finished up, the weather started to clear up and we decided three nights of docking in a row was just extravagant so we headed to Allans-Pensacola.


The guidebooks all tell you that Allans-Pensacola was formerly two islands, but as the result of recent hurricanes it is now one. The guidebooks also tell you about a signing tree, where cruisers can leave signed momentos of their trip. Sadly we could not find the signing tree or the path to the beach on the east side of the island. We knew we were pretty close since we could hear the waves crashing, on what is supposed to be a beautiful beach, but it was still cold from the rain so we decided to give up on our search and occupy ourselves with more important tasks like (re)checking the anchor, depth and tides and blowing the conch at sunset.


After Allans-Pensacola we headed to Great Sale Cay (on Sunday) where we spent our second night in the Bahamas back in December. We had a beautiful sail. We ran the motors to charge the batteries, but the wind was perfect. Ben caught a beautiful snapper. He was a little worried about fish poisoning, so we just had a little bit last night and are planning to have a fish dinner tonight for Valentine's Day.

This morning (Monday) we heard more bad news from Chris Parker. It sounds like it will be more like Thursday, Friday or Saturday for the window for crossing the gulf stream. The good news is that one of his official customers is waiting in Nassau to cross and called in for more detailed crossing information, which he then broadcasts live on the SSB. Since it's going to be a few days, and there is no where to anchor in West End, we decided to stay put in Great Sale for Valentine's Day and do some dingy exploring, read our books, and relax. We figure it's our last day doing nothing for a month, so we might as well take advantage.

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The Beginning of the End

We did the math yesterday, and it wasn't pretty. We have about 30 days if we are planning to be back to Deltaville by March 10th, so the calendar says we better start heading north. It's very sad, but we are trying to think of this as the beginning of the third part of the trip and not the end. Either way I am NOT looking forward to wearing pants or shoes on a regular basis. Our "plan" is to hit Hope Town and Man O War each one more time, and then, when the weather is good head across Whale Cay to Green Turtle. We'd like to see a few of the less inhabited cays between Green Turtle and West End before finding a good weather window to head across to Florida.

In a lot of ways the time has flown by, but when I think back to some of our adventures at the beginning of the trip - the softball team meeting us in Norfolk, Southport, fresh shrimp for Thanksgiving dinner, docking at the Kennedy's right when we needed it, being saved by Will and Renaldo south of Charleston - I realize how far we've come, in space, in our sailing skills, and in my state of mind and ideas of what's important. I feel like in a lot of ways we've really become liveaboards, even if only for a short while. I'm also amazed when I think back to all the wonderful people we've met and friends we've made along the way. I'll miss hearing a Whisper hailed on the VHF as we pull into a mooring field because friends spotted our boat or heard us hailing a marina or fuel dock on the VHF.

But, I said we're not thinking of this as the end yet and so I'll stop with the sad and sentimental. Plus I need to save something to write about at the real end of the trip.

In other news:

We had an excellent time at Pete's 16th Annual 50th Birthday Celebration. The pig roast was good, the sides were even better, there was plenty of rum to go around, we ran into some friends, and continued making new ones. We met the illustrious captain David from Tarheel, husband of the local celebrity, Betty from Tarheel of Cruiser Net fame.

Sunday morning we "sailed" (motored) back to Marsh Harbor, taking the outside route, which was about the same distance but we thought might provide better fishing luck (it didn't).

We arrived in time to go to Maxwell's for salad making ingredients for the Super Bowl pot luck at the Jib Room. We had another fun and relaxing night drinking at the Jib Room. We managed to stay out past Cruiser's Midnight (9 pm), but we did not make it until the end of the football game.

iPad Risk has beaten out Yahtzee for the new favorite boat game. I might need a few more practice rounds vs the computer before I take Ben on again though.

Monday we went on the offensive against the black mold. I think the winner was the bleach. The hulls are looking much better, but Ben's favorite sweater, which we thought had been carefully moved, now sports two large bleach spots. We still need to go for round 2 against the galley mold, but are saving that for later.

Yesterday morning Ben picked up a conch shell at Conky Joe's and only needed one trip to Keith at the Jib Room to successfully complete the horn. It really smelled horrible, but he has it smelling better, and sounding great. For the first time we were able to answer the calls at sunset.

Costa Rica - Ups and Downs

I did want to finish up the Costa Rica trip with one more post about the zip line (the good) and the trip back to Alejuela from Montezuma (the near death experience).



The zip line was absolutely amazing. It's not the biggest one in Costa Rica by far, but Ben and I had a blast. It consisted of a total of 11 "zips" with a visit to a waterfall after the 6th and a beautiful view of Montezuma Beach from the top of the platform for the 8th. The waterfall visit was my favorite part. Ben and I were the first ones in the water, and we led the way - most of the rest of the group was pretty quick to follow once they saw how much fun we were having on the rope swing. Ben harnessed his old diving skills and executed a perfect backflip off the swing. We were glad we saved the zip line for near the end of the trip - we were sore!



The town we stayed in - Montezuma - is about a 5 hour trip by van and ferry from the airport in Alejuela. Both times we've arranged transportation through Montezuma Expeditions. It was fun this time having 8 people because we got a party van to ourselves. On the way back to Alejuela at the end of our trip, as we were coming off the express way the brakes on the van went out. Thanks to extremely quick thinking on the part of the driver who pulled the emergency brake, and a little bit of luck, everyone ended up being ok. We pulled over to the side of the road and waited for another van to pick us up and take us the last 20 minutes to Alejuela. I feel like I should have more commentary on our near death experience, but other than being very happy not to have been pancaked by a semi or thrown off a cliff, I don't have too many other thoughts on the situation.



On the way back to The Bahamas, Ben and I had a layover in Miami. Our flight out of Costa Rica was delayed and Tristan and Erin and Seth and Justine ended up missing their flight to Chicago and joined us for dinner in Miami at an interesting steak joint. After two weeks of fish we were all excited to eat large portions of meat, although we were a little taken a back when we walked in and were asked "Cuantos personas?" We answered back seis before realizing we were back in the US and probably could speak English.

The next morning, Ben and I had a pretty busy day before our flight. I needed to get a prescription filled, and Ben really wanted to get a haircut. We didn't quite have time for the haircut, but we did find, what turned out to be an excellent Cuban Restaurant for lunch. We used the "Around Me" app on the iphone and everything coming up at first was fast food, but finally a Cuban restaurant a few miles away came up and the reviews looked ok so we decided to check it out. As soon as we pulled up we knew it was going to be authentic - there was a long line of Cubans hanging out in front drinking coffee. The winning dish was a black bean soup which was beyond excellent.

Jack Be Nimble Jack be Quick: Limbo and Conch Cracking at the Jib Room

After recharging at Treasure Cay, we headed back to Marsh Harbor for two fun nights at the Jib Room in Marsh Harbor.

Wednesday night was Rib Night. The ribs were excellent and it was tons of food. Both of managed not to eat too much, although I think Ben may have drank a little too much with Kenny from Eva Marie. After the ribs there was singing, dancing and limbo. Ben and I, having a combined age younger than the average (not combined) age held our own in the limbo contest, although the Jib Room has a local ringer. After successfully limbo'ing at about 18 inches, he replaced the limbo bar with one he had wrapped in cotton and doused in rubbing alcohol and proceeded to limbo under the flaming bar, stopping only to light his cigarette. (Our video camera broke, but we do have some footage from our regular camera. Once we have a reliable method for charging our computers for a few days, we will try our best to post a video montage).






Thursday at the Jib Room was a conch cracking session, so we knew we were staying in Marsh Harbor for the day. We decided to take advantage of the lazy day, and Kenny from Eva Marie's free labor. Ben and Kenny lowered the angle of the bow sprit, to - in theory - solve the problem we sometimes have furling (rolling up) the large head sail. Then they hoisted me up the mast to I could attach booties to the spreader. Basically, boot caps are rubber feet which attach to the end of the metal spreader to reduce the chances of ripping the sail if it rubs against the spreader. After all that work we went to Conky Joe's for another excellent lunch.



The Conch Cracking Class at the Jib Room was one of the most fun nights we've had since being back. Kenny from Eva Marie knows just about everyone, so it's fun to get introduced to everyone by the "cool kid." Keith, a local Bahamian, employee at the Jib Room, and captain, ran the class. He demo'd opening 3 conchs slowly, starting with counting to the third ridge and cracking it with a hatchet, to pulling out the ugly white, red and black piece of meet. Kenny's wife Sandra and I agreed we were glad we had enjoyed conch before seeing what the meat actually looked like. After the demos two volunteers had a chance to "race" for the title of fastest new bee conch cracker. The woman who went first made Keith look good - she took about 7 minutes, but was eventually successful. I think I would have given up! Ben went next, and used the extra demo to his advantage - he was not cautious with the hatchet! He clocked in a few minutes faster, but both participants were winners and went home with Jib Room T-Shirts. Ben is excited to have an actual CLEAN (and white!) shirt on the boat.

After the race, Keith finished the demo by showing us how to clean the meat and making delicious scorched conch - conch + lime - basically conch salad minus the peppers and other veggies. We also learned how to saw the end off a conch and blow one, so that we can make one to blow at sunset. Although sometimes people but epoxy over the hole, the best way to make a conch for blowing is to forgo the meat (and cracking it), freeze the shell, tap out of the (dead) conch, and then saw and file the end.




We decided, even if we couldn't quite sail to the Little Harbor, it would be worth the trip down for Pete's 16th Annual 50th Birthday Bash, so yesterday we headed south. We were pleasantly surprised - because there were several jogs around shallow sandbars and we were able to sail (or motor-sail) more than half the way here. We were worried the harbor might be crowded, but didn't have any trouble finding a mooring ball. We did have a little bit of trouble actually mooring because the line on the mooring ball was several feet long and our normal bridle assembly did not work. After a few tries we ended up attaching directly to the mooring ball and heading to shore for a well deserved Blaster (Pete's Pub's house rum drink), a tour of the art gallery, and a walk on the beach. When we got back to the boat, a Manta 40 catamaran was moored next to us. Mike, Cheryl, and their 14 year old daughter Mikala invited us over for drinks which turned into a wonderful chili dinner. Mike retired from IBM, they moved to Florida, bought Happy Times, and are living the dream - sailing south with not much of a plan beyond Georgetown next month and BVI after that.

Location:Little Harbor

Let's name the zones, the zones, the zones; let's name the zones of the open sea!

source: http://pixar.wikia.com/Mr._Ray

Probably one of the most exciting wildlife moments, for me at least, occurred Sunday at Guana. There were several people on the Grabber's dingy dock. I assumed they were looking at the sunset, but when we got closer they yelled that we were actually really close to a huge ray. He stayed around until we got up on the dock. He was huge - probably at least 5 feet across and a very long tail - and looked just like the teacher from Finding Nemo. The biggest difference is the tail was a lot longer, Ben and I estimated 10 feet in total length. We had been snorkeling earlier so I had already said I wanted to watch Finding Nemo, which we have with us on DVD. We decided to just watch the scene with the teacher that night.

The day of the ray was a Sunday and we were on Great Guana Cay for the Nipper's Sunday pig roast. It was excellent, but we ate way too much. We snorkeled right off Nippers after each enjoying a Frozen Nipper and before the pig. The water was clear and I saw a ton of Dory fish (from Finding Nemo again), but snorkeling off Hope Town seemed to be a little better.

Whisper anchored off Tahiti Beach

On Monday we sailed down to Tahiti Beach, which was recommended as one of the best beaches in the area. At first it didn't seem very nice, but once we walked around the point, to where a group a Spanish speakers were playing soccer, it turned out to be very beautiful. After that we sailed back to Marsh Harbor.

This morning we called in reservations to the Jib Room for rib night tomorrow night, did some grocery shopping at Maxwell's and then motor sailed up to Treasure Cay to park ourselves at the bar and charge our electronics.



We're really enjoying our new schedule - which basically consists of us listening to the Cruiser's Net in the morning and figuring out what we'd like to do and what the weather says we can do, then figuring out if there's anything we need to do (water, gas, groceries, etc) and then making a tentative schedule based on that. This week there is a conch cracking lesson at the Jib Room on Thursday night, and rib night on Wednesday, so we will head back to Marsh Harbor tomorrow. This weekend there is a party Saturday night in Little Harbor, but it doesn't sound like the wind will be right, so we might skip that and instead plan the weekend around which ever bar is having the best Super Bowl drink specials.