FINALLY...

Hello everyone. Wow…where to begin. When I last left you we were headed to Stuart to spend Xmas. Well we made it to a little place called Manatee Pocket and dropped anchor for 2 weeks. We had been receiving emails from a guy we met in the Hudson river telling us that if we made it there to look him up. Just as we dropped the anchor we saw the familiar very red north star that we had seen 5 months earlier and standing in the cockpit was Marcell. We were thrilled to meet up again and so began not only a friendship but our family for the next 2 weeks.
Marcell, Gail and their 2 daughters visiting for the holidays made us feel welcome just like family over the xmas holidays, and although we were missing our own families at this time being with Marcell’s family made our Christmas. Between drinks and lovely dinners with the St. Onge family we worked like mad on Meggie. We were able to provision Meggie for the Bahamas with the help of the St. Onge van and managed to get the last few jobs on Meggie completed before heading across, small little things that we thought we would have done along the way but proved to have no time to do. We installed our second set of hand rails, fastened our dinghy tie downs to the cabin top, pulled apart the interior and javexed the whole boat and then filled it with a ton of food all wrapped in ziplock bags, but most importantly Mike installed our old but new to us Icom 720A SSB radio. We bought this radio and tuner from Doug in Oriental for $70, and it has been our new favorite piece of equipment. Having an SSB allows us to receive weather for all over the Bahamas and the Carribbean and also allows us to download weather faxes, not to mention it will also allow us to communicate up to 5000 miles away (pretty amazing). This is very important as you cannot receive extensive weather on VHF as you can in Canada and the US. It was a lengthy process to install but I cannot express the relief I feel having that piece of equipment on board. So…with the boat provisioned and our jobs completed we were ready to go…except we had to celebrated new years and why not do it with people we know and like! So the 2 girls and Mike and I went out on the town for New Years…Mike was a lucky guy that night not only did he have me as a date but 2 other beautiful women. We had a great time and although we made it back to the boat at 4:30 am we managed to wake up feeling relatively good.
Now that the holidays were officially over, and after listening to the weather constantly for the past 3 days, it was time to move on. We planned a hop from St. Lucie inlet to Miami, but were warned by the locals that the inlet was not a good idea to attempt and concern was evident. So we travelled via the ICW once again to West Palm Beach and anchored there with the intention of heading out that inlet to Miami. I should also mention here that Twice Loved and Meggie went separate ways just after new years. With Twice Loved’s time restrictions they decided that visiting the Abacos would suite them rather then heading further south to the Exumas. So off they went to experience a different part of the Bahamas, and we’re so glad to hear they’re there safe and sound. Once in west palm we waited 3 days for an east wind of 20-25 knots to subside, but to our disadvantage we had no such luck, so we made our way down to Fort Lauderdale. Finally the winds had subsided and we were able to jump our the inlet to Miami. We had a pretty good sail, but we were just thankful to be out on the ocean again. We entered Miami refreshed and ready to tackle the Gulf Stream. Once in Miami we met up with Snowday and were able to enjoy their company on the beach and although we had to wait for a weather window to cross we couldn’t really complain about our surroundings.We ran around Miami Beach getting the last few things done before our window opened and we were able to go. On our dinghy ride back to the boat one day we met a couple heading in to do the last minute rushes as well…we got to talking and found out they were from Newmarket and so began our friendship with our travel companions for the next week. Hasten Slowly moved to our anchorage and we began our preparations and discussion to head across the Gulf Stream, which always ended up being drinks on Hasten Slowly including another boat Surfer Girl. Both boats are Sabre 38’s, and luckily they excepted Meggie even though she’s only 30 feet long and slower..We planned a 3:00am departure on Monday morning and upon waking up discovered the wind was still blowing from the east instead of SE like predicted so we delayed our departure until 5:00am. We headed out the long Miami inlet and were only met with massive monstrous waves in the inlet. Meggie pounded her way out but we just were not making any headway. We radioed the 2 other boats and even though they were further out there was no change in the conditions….we made the call and bailed out. Hasten Slowly, Surfer Girl, and Meggie made our way back to the anchorage and were settled down again in our same spots before anyone around had woken up for the day. Ok…so our new plan was to wait for the wind to switch to SE and lessen so the seas had a chance to lay down and we would try again. It didn’t look like this was going to happen until around midnight. We really wanted this window because missing it would mean another week in Florida and we were desperate to get to Bahamas. Early that night we again sat on Hasten Slowly to discuss our plan…which only led to drinks. We caught an hours sleep and Mike and I weighed anchor at 10:30pm and headed out the long inlet again. It seemed better…we were going! The light from Miami lit the inlet for us but as we approached the end of the inlet and the open ocean it got very dark and it took my eyes awhile to adjust to the darkness. Finally we were clear of all hazardous buoys and we were in deep dark water. The waves had subsided and the wind was bowing SE at about 7 knots, not enough to just sail as we had to keep our speed up so the Gulf Stream didn’t send us more north than planned. We adjusted our heading to head more SE than the rum line heading of E as we had to compensate for the 2-3.5 knot current that runs north. As we headed out into the night my eyes adjusted and the stars lit the sky and we were having a great time. We were introduced to bio-luminescent, which are little organisms that sparkle in the wake of a boat…it was magical. We plotted our course every half hour to make sure we weren’t being pushed to far north and our course proved to be bang on.With a watchful eye for ships transiting the Gulf Stream we plodded our way along until finally the sun rose directly in front of us revealing the deep purple color of the water. Mike thought he would try the fishing thing again. On our way to Miami he did have something on the line, but whatever it was took all of our line as Mike couldn’t stop the drag and we decided that we didn’t want to know what was on the end of the line because whatever it was…it was BIG. So up until the Gulf Stream we had caught 0 fish. Mike put the line out and soon enough Mike told me to take the tiller. He pulled in the most beautiful looking Mahi..It was the most amazing color and it was quite a fair size. Needless to say Mike was thrilled as you can tell by his face in the photo. We continued on and finally saw land…Bimini, but we decided to keep moving along the banks. The water goes from 3000 meters to 40 feet just like that and the color change of the water is unbelievable. Before we knew it we were seeing the bottom in 40 feet…unreal. We travelled along the banks in calm weather and when sunset arrived we decided to drop anchor after about 20 hours. Now…anchoring on the banks…you have to understand that the banks are shallow waters with mostly sand bottom, but there is no land in sight…so you’re anchoring in the open. We dropped our hook and marvelled at the clear water, even at night you could see the bottom and the amount of stars was staggering. We anchored with Hasten Slowly and although the evening started out no too bad by midnight Meggie was bouncing around so badly it was hard to stay on the bunks….no sleep that night. By 5 am we were ready to go. Just before first light we pulled up our anchor and were off again. Our next stop Chub Cay. On route is where the banks meet the tongue of the ocean. We had a pretty slow day, wind on the nose but light. We made our way to Chub and anchored in the safety from the E winds.We knew it was only temporary safety as the S-NW is open to the open ocean…yikes. By midnight the wind had switch to SE and we could start to feel the swell bouncing Meggie around. By 2:00am the wind had switched enough to make our anchorage begin to feel uncomfortable. By 3:30am we had the anchor up and started heading out into the ocean again. We set sails turned onto our course and turned the motor off. We had one of our best sails. In the early morning darkness we sat in the cockpit drinking coffee and once again marvelled at how many stars existed. All of a sudden the sky lit up like a spot light and we were amazed to watch a comet falling turning a green color as it descended…it was truly amazing. I laid down in the cockpit to have a bit of a nap, and heard a thump on the cabin top and then in the cockpit…Mike and I looked at each other wondering who was the careless one that left something on deck…only to find a flying fish thumping around just by my feet….it almost landed right on me.We threw it back in the water and once daylight appeared began to see these funny little bird fish skimming across the ocean. The winds increased and Meggie sailed along at 6.5 knots and we made landfall 2 hours earlier than we expected and pulled into the Nassau harbour at 10 am. Finally….we were in the Bahamas…where we could actually go on land.We took a slip at a marina so we could check into customs (which didn’t end up being until 4:00pm) and finally raised our Bahamian flag. Once we were cleared we were thrilled to be heading into town with Maddy (aka: guardian angels).We had been keeping tabs on where they were and they spotted Meggie and came right over. It was great to see them after so long. We headed into Nassau and went by the market and down by the little food huts to have our first conch salad. Mike and I were invited onto Doc’s boat to watch the process of getting conch out of it’s shell. Doc was so fast at doing this and we felt privileged to have been able to witness it. We watched as the lady rubbed the raw conch meat with lime and chopped it up into the most wonderful tasting salad I’ve ever hadWhat a great introduction to Nassau. We wandered back to our boat satisfied, thrilled and exhausted.The wind is howling 20-25 knots and we were glad to be in the safety of the harbour….for now. So…again I apologize for the lengthy blog, but I was determined not to write until we actually made landfall in the Bahamas. So we’re safe and the long slog is over and we will begin our travels down the Exuma chain hoping to visit Paul and Karen from Thornbury along the way at Staniel Cay. I don’t know when I will be able to write again but please be assured as soon as I get a connection I will do so.
Ok…well this is Kylie in the Nassau Bahamas signing off.
Until next time….
Cheers
Kylie and Mike