We came through some choppy seas down the Banks yesterday and after about 6 hours we arrived at Warderick Wells, a protected park of about 176 acres.

It was our first mooring ball attempt and despite our mutual concern it went off easily. Ed positioned the boat and I drive up to it, he grabbed the line and we were on!

Moored is a nice way to be. You don’t have to worry about your anchor slipping in the sand. So Ed could get a good night’s sleep.

We dinghied over to the park office to pay, Ziggy jumped right in and then out at the dock. She’s doing better than me!

Then we walked on one of the trails covered in coral, intending to go up to Boo Boo Hill. Ed said it felt like we were walking on the moon, the coral was cratered and sharp. I was gun shy about continuing after my toe injury so we turned back as it would be dark in an hour.

Boo Boo Hill is named that for a shipwrecked vessel where everyone died. They say at night you can hear their souls singing hymns on top if the hill.

Boo!

We may leave tomorrow or not depending on winds. Wendy the wind gen is doing her thing big-time, throwing out power as the wind whistles through here.

This is our 7th day off the grid, using only our solar and wind power along with motor yesterday to charge batteries. So far so good!

Bad news is I have managed to get swimmers ear I think, right ear is clogged up and face is sore.

Thank the Lord for Aleve!

It is Christmas morning, another beautiful day in Paradise. There are poinsettias on our dock tables, that’s how we know what day it is.

We made pancakes this morning and watched the yachties wash down their huge charters, something they seem to do every day whether the boat needs it or not.

Yesterday was a wonderful day, reading in the cabana by the ocean and then at the harbor beach. We even tried paddle boarding! It was so calm it was easy to stand up.

Yachties drove golf carts with their clients’ kids down to the beach to entertain them for the afternoon. They put up a huge inflatable trampoline, kayaked and played in the sand for hours. Not sure where the parents were, but the kids didn’t seem to mind.

The native children don’t need such entertainment, they make their own. I met Ed’s bike buddies as I walked past the village where the island staff lives. They were maybe 8-10 years old, very excited about Santa coming. I asked them what they wanted for Christmas.

“I want a new IPad, you know the one that has 200 games.” He waved his arms wide showing me how big it was.

“I want a bike,” the younger one said. I replied you have a bike. He said no that wasn’t his bike.

They said they knew Ed, they said they beat him racing. Hmmm, that was not what Ed had told me.

Who knows the real truth??

We found out the children of the staff here don’t live here because there are no schools. They live in Nassau and visit their parents here on holidays and occasional weekends. They are here this week on Christmas break.

We will buy water and settle up this morning, as the office closes at noon. We are celebrating the holiday with dinner at the restaurant -“Xuma” – tonight.

“Plan A,” the luxury yacht across from us is preparing to leave. We are amidst 13 luxury charters, in high cotton as my dad used to say.

But “Cool Runner,” the island patriarch, chats readily with all of us, blow-boaters and stink-potters, and makes us feel at home on Highborne Cay.

First Christmas I’ve ever been away from my kids—kisses and hugs to Nate, Will and Gracie from Bahama Mama!

Highborne Cay, the northernmost island in the Exuma chain, is reviewed by boaters as a beautiful spot with nice amenities, but expensive.

Marinas charge by the boat length. We have been staying for anywhere from $36-72 per night ($1-2 per foot).
Here it’s $99 per night.

Pretty cheap when you consider we are on the water with a 2-minute walk to a harbor beach, a 5-minute bike ride to the ocean beach, free bikes, free kayaks, access to golf carts and laundry/showers, a wonderful grocery store and beautiful little cabanas for cocktails.

Not too shabby.

Sharks come to the fish cleaning station hoping for handouts. Apparently they didn’t realize the restaurant was closed on Monday.

We chose to come into the marina for a few nights due to windy conditions and chop forecast. It was not a hard decision. We have had some busy and challenging days and this is really our first chance to relax and put our toes in the sand.

Speaking of toes, I had the misfortune of cutting mine on a hidden rock as we walked on the beach so I am hobbling around a bit. Ed on the other hand is doing his usual energetic activities.

He rode one of the free cruiser bikes yesterday and challenged some native kids to a race up the hill (he kicked their butts). Then he went to what’s called the Crows Nest at the top of the hill, which is outfitted with Cross Fit type gym equipment. Gracie you should be here!

Then Ed came back and cleaned the hulls of the boat before joining me at the waterfront cabana for sunset cocktails.

All I did was read a book and nurse my toes all afternoon. But I really didn’t feel bad about it.

The charter yachts here come and go, amazing 75-100 foot beasts towing little runabout power boats behind them. Their crews, called “yachties” are friendly young people who maintain the ship and serve the passengers in return for beautiful destinations and hopes of generous tips.

Not a bad life if you’re in your twenties.

I bet they have boat challenges from time to time too?

Naaaahh.

We are staying here in Paradise through Christmas, after which the winds are forecast to turn so we can sail down the chain further.

Leaving Nassau at 8:30 this morning we made our way down the Grand Bahamas Bank toward the Exuma chain of islands.

It was a pretty uneventful, calm day (imagine that!) by the time we arrived at the northernmost island, Highborne Cay, some 7 hours later.

We anchored out just maybe 100 yards from the beach where 6 other boats were anchored. Ziggy was ready to get in the dinghy (imagine that too!) and it was a short ride to the shore so we rowed there.

Nice beach, pretty much to ourselves except for some party people down the beach a little way. They had jet skis and a big speed boat, racing each other back and forth.

Ed threw Ziggy in the water and she swam out to us a couple of times. When it was time to go she jumped right in the dinghy.

That dog is adapting quite well from her homeless days in Columbus County.

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John our Bahamian electrician is a man of few words. When he first checked out batteries we asked him what he found.

“You got 2 dead batteries,” he said. We said yeah that’s what we thought. Where can we get new ones?

“The battery store,” he replied. Well duh that makes sense.

So John picked up Ed early in his car to drive to the store and pay for the batteries. Back at the boat he installed them and then checked the sump pump for the shower.

He got it running and I asked how he did that.

“You got to top it,” I thought he said in the lilt that makes every sentence sound like a question.

“Top it?” I couldn’t figure that out.

John rapped with his wrench on his hand. Oh now I get it, he meant tap it.

OK so that high tech problem was solved.

The last issue was the second fresh water pump not running. John took a quick look and delivered his usual terse verdict.

“You got a dead pump.” Once again something on our boat has died.

John told us where to buy one and how it was a simple thing to install. Ed and I looked at each other and said ok we will see.

Long story short we were able to install it (miracle!) and it works!

I won’t tell you how much 2 batteries, a pump and labor cost but you can make a good guess if you multiply what it would cost at home times two.

After all that we were ready for some fun so we took a cab to Atlantis and the Sportsbook there, where this time we watched UNC beat Ohio State solidly.

Since our luck was turning, Ed put some money on the Blackjack table and came out ahead!

We decided that was it for the day. On the way home we stopped at Potters Cay under the bridge where all the locals eat fresh Bahamian fish, etc. The snapper was awesome!

We arrived in Nassau around 2 pm after an easy motor sail from Chub Cay. Ed had the mainsail up which helped a bit, but the light wind was on our nose the whole way.

Ed had to call the harbor master to get permission to enter because of potential cruise ship traffic.

We came in to the mouth of the harbor and made our way past 4 massive cruise ships, down the channel to our marina.

Peter the Greek dockmaster had been raved about in the cruisers’ reviews. He lived up to his reputation, handling 4 boats docking almost at the same time . He got us tied up securely, best we’ve seen.

Later we walked down to “The Poop Deck,” the boaters’ bar and grill, which later we decided should be renamed Liars’ Lair. At the bar we met two Englishmen, Tim and Paul. Tim lives on his boat and is a boat broker. Paul we are not sure about, he said he had a 300 ft yacht and his wife ran off with her gym instructor. Ed called him on it, but he swore it was true. We asked him why he would be talking to a couple of low class sailors like us, but he just laughed and told more tales.

Back at the boat, big Dave showed up with his canvas bag and joined us for a nightcap. We had met him when we docked. He’s the master captain for a guy that owns 5 yachts and he lives in Fort Lauderdale. He’s here delivering a boat I guess. He said his boss is a “Mister Magoo” whatever that means.

Dave told us he was a former linebacker with the 49ers, played with Joe Montana. Ed couldn’t believe it! But this guy definitely had the build of a linebacker.

Dave shared his peanuts and drank his concoction, sharing sports stories with Ed and playing his music. I figured his trusty canvas bag went with him everywhere. He told us he had 3 Super Bowl rings, one of which he gave to his mother.

Now isn’t that the sweetest thing?

PS. Happy birthday to my daughter Gracie! She is 27.

We entered Chub Cay harbor around noon yesterday after leaving Bimini early. Don’t know why it’s called that, it’s a cute little island that only has 35 residents.

It’s the stopping point on the Berry Islands between Bimini and Nassau, the best route for people like us headed to the Exumas.

We decided to anchor in front of the beach where a couple of other boats were, a picturesque area, a little unprotected but not an issue since the wind was calm.

We put swimsuits on and headed on the dinghy with Ziggy to the beach. She’s getting better but has a little trouble with her footing slipping. I need to find a little mat for her.

We walked over to see the Outsider folks we had talked to the previous day, Paul and Brenda from Ontario. Ed spent a little while picking Paul’s brain about our battery issues. He thinks we might have a couple of weak batteries. We checked a setting back on the boat and discovered that is the case.

We took a fun swim by the boat, Ed swam over the anchor with his goggles and snorkel. It was the first time we had been able to enjoy warm water. Then it was cocktail hour and cooking burgers on the grill.

In the haze of our buzz we decided the boat parts are like a toy closet in a horror movie, where all the toys come alive and plot against you while you sleep.

The first demon was the starboard engine that died in Florida. As he passed away the port engine decided he would give us a break and get us to Cocoa. He must have welcomed the help from the new sexy starboard engine and got distracted on the ocean, where he let an evil rubber ball overtake him. After that, they both plugged along fine till we left Fort Lauderdale. Then sweet Sally Starboard engine got her panties in a wad when that pesky seaweed caught on her. She stopped a few times to wait on us to fix it, she’s too young and stupid to do it herself.

After that the engines must have decided to work together as a team. So far so good, until entering the channel to cross over the Gulf Stream in the dark.

That’s when GPS quit on us several times and my spotlight led us past many unlit markers. GPS is not one to lightly give up though, and as we discovered now, it’s a faulty battery that’s the culprit. He is next to be “degraded and destroyed” when we arrive in Nassau, he will not bring us down.

The fresh water pumps (we have 2) have conspired and decided to let one take a rest. He may be corroded so it might not be intentional. And the sump pump for the shower is taking a rest, forcing us to use our solar showers outside for now when we anchor. Sump isn’t sumping.

Oh, and the depth finder quit on us crossing over at 469 feet, but Ed figured out she just gives up at those depths cause she can’t find the sea floor. And we know from the charts on the sea sometimes we are over 2700 feet. Ok, she gets a pass.

And Auto Annie, our auto helm, has been a solid partner as long as the seas are calm. Once the waves kick up she throws up her little steering hands and quits.

Yes, it’s a fact, Toucan’s innards all get together at night and decide who will throw us the next monkey wrench. However we are gaining in experience and understanding of their mysterious ways.

We may be novices, but we don’t lack in determination. In a test of wills versus the boat gremlins, we will prevail!

We left Bimini yesterday morning after fueling up and headed for the wide open waters of the Great Bahamas Bank.  It is a huge body of water with channels to the Berry Islands, our next stop.

We motored all day on essentially glass-like waters, from 6-20 feet deep, easily seeing the bottom.  Huge starfish were everywhere but little other sea life.

It was a beautiful calm day.  Around 5 we started talking about anchorages.  No land in sight and 15 feet of water, we wanted to find shallower areas.

About sunset we spotted a small boat off to our right anchored out, only thing in the whole wide sea.

Maybe Captain Phillips the movie had unnecessarily scared us but just to be safe Ed got out his shotgun and brought it up to the cockpit.

“Tell me if you see that boat come in and follow behind us,” he said.

Whoa, that made me a little nervous.  We could see 3 guys on the boat with our binocs.  According to one of Ed’s sports commentators you see three or more men together it’s never a good thing.

But they stayed back and we put up the gun, unloaded of course.

By now we has decided to continue on  toward Chub Cay, which is about 35 miles north of Nassau.  But we couldn’t make that before midnight, so we decided to continue on in the dark til 9pm and anchor near the Northwest Channel marker.

As it turned out the marker was nonexistent, one source told us it was now just a post in the ground, submerged at high tide.

Yikes.  Ed started looking for shallower waters in the area and found an area north of the shipping routes where the Bahamian freighters travel.

He carefully guided the boat in pitch black and watched the depth finder steadily decrease to 12 ft.  Then he went up front and I steered til we got to 8ft and we dropped the hook.

The stars were beautiful, the water was calm, we could see the anchor on the bottom with our spotlight.

We had no idea what was around us.

In the morning we found out.  Nothing but open water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We spent the day in Bimini mostly waiting for a guy named E.J. who we hoped would check our GPS connection and the second water source pump.

He was referred to us by the people at the marina, the son of Nor (I think? sounds Norwegian but he’s Bahamian) who was supposed to be a good electrician.

We told them we would be back in the afternoon so Ed rented a golf cart for 2 hours and we took off to explore the island.

Up the road driving on the left what did we come to? A casino! And a very different upscale area with new condos galore on the beach.

But it wasn’t open yet. So Ed couldn’t use their sportsbook. I took a picture before they reminded me no pics.

On the way back we found a little crafts area and I went browsing the shops. Found a cute little dress.

I came out to find Ed talking to a lady by her car. He had noticed all the locals eat out of styrofoam containers and there were several people around her.

The Bahamas book had mentioned if you see people buying food out of a car go for it. Apparently Ed had picked up on that.

She saw Ziggy and said “no dogs I’m scared of dogs.” I moved Ziggy away while Ed did the food deal.

He got one baked chicken/macaroni/Bahamian rice/potato salad in a styrofoam container of course and it was delicious back on the boat. Nine bucks for a meal for two people – awesome!

Back at the boat, after lunch my energizer bunny Ed decided to get in the water and clean the props from seaweed from the Gulf. He didn’t stop there, cleaned the hulks, rudders and keel.

Of course I did nothing except watch for nurse sharks, none appeared. We did see a huge starfish though, hanging out in 9-foot ultra clear water.

We took turns staying at the boat the afternoon but our electrician never arrived.

We may leave anyway in the morning. With this great weather we can go down the Bahamas Banks and anchor anywhere.

We are here. It is a beautiful place.

We left No Name Harbor at 4 am in utter darkness. Ed lifted the anchor fairly easily and we made our way out to the channel.

I realized I needed the spotlight when Ed told me some of the markers were not lit. Uh oh. So I got it and went up to sit on the bow with the spotlight.

We passed several markers and another frigging BALL I spotted with the light before we got too close. I felt like I was on a drug-running vessel spotlighting the path ahead.

Then “Oh f…” Not words I wanted to hear.

“The GPS went out.” We were in the channel at night with no navigation.

I couldn’t leave my post or we would run into something so we kept on going, slowly.

Everything was turned off but the battery was low. The GPS came back shortly thereafter

We went through this exercise a couple more times before we finally started to see daybreak around 6:30 and the last channel marker.

We had made it to the ocean, now it was time for the infamous Gulf Stream.

You can tell when you get there because the water becomes a metallic blue. But it was fairly smooth, not much swell or waves.

Our GPS was holding now, we were getting solar and wind energy and the batteries were looking good.

We motor sailed all day and were almost out of the Gulf Stream when the starboard engine quit.

What? This was our new engine. Ed checked and saw seaweed on the motor. He cleaned it off.

The motor quit a couple more times. Then the last 2 hours were fine.

Ed thought later the intake might have gotten clogged, he will check that out.

We got to Blue Water Resort, using the latter word loosely, and pulled into the slip. This was Hemingway’s fishing haunt.

I had been looking for my shampoo all day from our outdoor solar shower the previous night.

Guess where it was? On the step leading down to the water on the stern. That bottle rode on the steps all the way across the Gulf Stream through waves and a couple of strong
wakes from other boats!

That’s what I call a miracle.