Monday, March 1, 2010

Looking Forward to March

After Mike and Charlotte left us at Staniel Cay, we had a strange afternoon.  We hadn’t slept well the night before as the approaching front had us rocking and rolling with the wind causing the boat to pitch around and the halyards to slap against the mast.  It was deafening!  So we were tired as we tried to adjust to being alone again on the boat.  We waved to two planes as they went overhead – one must have carried the Inmans and we wondered if they had seen us standing on the deck waving.  We moped around trying to get back into our old rhythm.

Pam gave Glen a much needed haircut in the cockpit.  One untrained barber plus one rolling boat equals one poor haircut.  Luckily hair grows.  An omelette dinner, a few games of crib and then to bed.

We woke to a calm morning and headed north towards Hawksbill Cay.  It is in the Exuma Land and Sea Park so we tied to one of their mooring balls.  We could have anchored but we like to support their conservation efforts.  A mooring ball is $15 for the night.  For about six hours we were the only boat next to a beautiful beach and island.  We are still amazed at the colour of this water.

Look at the colour of the water!
Look at the colour of the water!
Private Island - Hawksbill Cay
Private Island - Hawksbill Cay

As the sun was setting, two other boats came to join us.  Glen won two games of Bananagrams before we put on our mast light and went to sleep.

The Blue Pearl tucked in at Hawksbill
The Blue Pearl tucked in at Hawksbill

Another front was approaching so we knew we needed a secure anchorage for the night.  We had planned to return to Norman’s Cay but arrived there at 10 am so continued north to look at Highborne Cay.  We motored around that anchorage at noon and agreed that it did not give us the protection we wanted.  So, we spent the night back at Allan’s Cay.  Our great Delta anchor held us snuggly while we were hit by 30-35 knot winds with gusts to 50 knots.  The current swung us in circles as the wind clocked from the south to the northwest during the night.  It was a crazy night.  We slept in the main salon so we could hear the different sounds and be able to react if needed.  A clear sky and a big full moon allowed us to keep tabs on the three other boats in the anchorage and to check that our anchor held tight.

We snoozed ‘til late in the morning as the wind whistled around us and lessened to 20 knots.  Mike and Charlotte had restocked our fruit and veggies and loaded us up with wonderful bread from the Bread Lady and we are eating well!

We are listening to reports of the Olympic hockey gold medal game on the satellite radio.  We just heard that Sidney Crosby scored the winning goal in overtime.  Yay Canada!

Tomorrow we will head into Nassau.

We had such a great visit with Mike and Charlotte and we are looking forward to all of the visitors coming in March.  Jinder and Kal arrive in Nassau tomorrow and will come aboard on Thursday.  Jen, Luke and Jackson arrive later in the month and we are hoping Don and Pat can work in a trip as well.  So March will be another great month!  Another reason to look forward to March is that we heard the fronts come less often as spring approaches.  Plus, on March 1 we can restart our monthly crib game tally.  For February, Glen is winning 14 games to 8!

8 comments:

  1. Hello you two, While you have been frolicking in the beautiful Bahamas we have been living the Olympics here in Vancouver. A very busy spectacle of events. BC is proud.
    A new teacher in the family, Let's hear it for Carrie. We will be sailing in April again I don't think we will cross paths tho.
    What's a bananagram?? never mind, I'll go to google. Wishes for blue skies, calm breezes, Bahamian gourmet, old and new friends and safety and great fun always.
    lov. mum

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  2. what a life, enjoy and soak it all up.
    Love
    Patti

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  3. We love reading your blog, looking at those beautiful beaches makes us jealous. We look forward to connecting with you on Thursday. Hopefully the poor weather will die down once us Indians get on the boat. We had conch fritters today, they were great. We ran into Anita at the airport and she was excited. Bahamas are awesome!

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  4. the haircut can't be worse than the one Aunt Catherine gave me while I was in basic training and missed the barber for mandatory weekly haircut...showed up for inspection as friar Duane and ened up doing the tapdance in front of the brass - think I set a record for being charged earliest in a military career.

    Anyway apart from the comedic value might I offer that Glen's haircut might have been slightly postponed? Sounds like masochism to me...or was it sadism Pam?

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  5. Hi You Two!
    Greetings from Kolibrie :) We're still in Warderwick Wells riding out the the last ??? of the coldfront storms? Still plan on moving southward. Hope we're able to connect up with you again. We loved meeting Mike and Charlotte & please thank them again for their help.

    By the way! Congrats on the Hockey Game! We heard it was an awesome game! Miss you guys!
    Patti & Wayne
    SV Kolibrie

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  6. You lucky dogs! The weather looks beautiful. It looks like you've been getting some great weather. Our warm days have been far and few between in the Keys.

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  7. Char of "Char's Web & Mike of the "Fishing Machine"March 5, 2010 at 10:25 PM

    We Missed You Too!

    After leaving The Blue Pearl on that very windy day, Mike & I, too, went into a "funk"....we actually flew right over the Blue Pearl and waved a good-bye! Upon landing back in Orlando the next day, we looked at each other and thot that we should just head home...everything after our sailing adventure seemed to be anti-climatic.

    BUT....that changed once we went to the performance of La Nouba....Cirque du Soleil...a lovely fantasy!

    To Patti & Wayne....we must say that you now have an Olympic "Gold" macerator.....steeped in the good fortune of a "sheer gold performance".....it was our pleasure to share that with you.

    And to Pam & Glen...the memories of delicious conch, fresh fish, beautiful blue water, beaches, walks, meeting your new sailing friends, swimming in the currents, getting to know the decks of Blue Pearl with our dancing shoes and sharing wonderful music, and of course playing bananagrams!
    We left a bit of our heart there in the Bahamas and hope to return next year!

    PS....Miss Flori, the Pug....does a superior "roll over" ....she is much better trained than "Ivor, the Iguana!"

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  8. Rogie & Gus,

    Sounds like quite the life! You are making me hungry with all the Conch cuisine.

    Olympics are now over, but it was quite the event. Matt was lucky to get us tickets to Canada vs Norway and the run to the Gold Medal was exciting. Unbelievable how patriotic everyone became and downtown went crazy every night.

    All the scalper talk for tickets made me think of you paying $60 for the 1972 Canada vs Russia in Vancouver....how times change!

    Love reading about your adventures.

    Keep Blogging.

    Miss you guys!

    Randy & Angela

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