Good morning everyone! Two days to Rossville! Steve was gone when i woke up and he came in with me breakfast just a few minutes later :-). We started on washing the boat, scrubbing all the dirt and salt off to make her pretty again. We washed her all day long took a break to get more cleaning supplies then back to work. We finally got finished scrubbing the boat cleaning the inside and storing the things that stay on the boat. Oh and did I tell you the winds have blown 15-20 knots all day here at the marina and our boat is still in the water. Yes we rocked and rolled and cleaned, I think it may catch on as a new way to clean your boat just hold the sponge in one spot and let the wind blow the boat back and forth, LOL.

I slept late today while Steve explored the marina and took care of the boat details with the marina guys. I went to the garbage to throw some stuff away and heard Steve whistle so I went over to where he was and we just hung out for a while. As we walked through the boat yard we saw so many neat boats. The yard is full of sailboats and people working on them owners and workers for the marina. I found one I wanted but it is not for sale. It is called Sea U Soon. It has windows in the back of the boar and neat windows on the side with a full keel and beautiful woodwork. I met a young woman who was cleaning her boat and stated she had her first boat when she was 7. I have the utmost respect and am in awe of women sailors out on the open ocean. To do that takes an extreme amount of guts and let me tell you most men dont have them that big. The women who sail with adrenaline junkies also deserve a lot of respect or need a mental examination, :-). I have had a ton of excitement, fun and adventure with my captain and have learned a whole lot while on the boat. Being back in the states is so good, I have everything at my fingertips. The boat does not have anything to cook on it so we are eating our except for cheese sandwiches we have those in abundance, lol. I wish i had someone to give my refrigerator stuff to, people here don’t want it but in the islands it would be gone in a heartbeat. I dont have anyway to keep it cold for 10 hours so out it goes. We got a lot done today and more tomorrow. Everyone stay tuned we are almost home. I will post a lot of pictures on the last pages as soon as i get consistent internet signals.

Whew more running around town picking up last-minute stuff for boat and things for boat cleaning. I also had to go get lidocaine for Steve’s sunburn. WOW you never know how much you miss being a spoiled American with everything at your beck and call. Boy are we privileged to be here. I hope we can keep this place strong. I was overjoyed to “drive” thru Mc Donalds and get breakfast. Funny what you miss when you dont have it. I walked through the boat yard today and looked at all the sailboats there. Some were hurricane damaged on the back row, and had been salvaged. Their once majestic masts gone and the boards that had kept the raging seas at bay ripped into ragged shreds like toothpicks. If i have learned anything it is that nature takes no prisoners. A lot of people were cleaning, repairing and unloading their boats so that they could work on them. This yard lets you work on your own boat. Which is great. We did not realize that the boat yard has been divorced. (not going to even go there). Lets just say we made sure our boat is taken good care of this boat yard has the best reputation around and has been family run for 35 years. Ft Pierce is a nice little town. Our friends Carol and Ron called us and we met them at Port St Lucie 18 miles south of us. We walked into this very neat town with all kinds of neat little stores and all kinds of restaurants. The place we ate had some wonderful tex mex and seafood. The restaurant was so neat the way it was made. It reminded me of Naples. Very neat and clean with all kinds of scenery, our friends were staying in an awesome marina with ameinities out the yang. I would love to be there but it is just a marina not a boat yard. There was a beautiful riverwalk and rocking chairs by the water tosit and relax in and watch the boats go by. We walked back to their boat after we ate and sat and talked until midnight almost. Steve and I had a wonderful walk back to the van and got home at a little after midnight and fell asleep. An end to another great day.

I got up early started to pack stuff in the van a little at a time so we dont have to do it all at once. I spent half a day just packing “a little bit” into the van. You never know how much stuff you have in such a small space. I am glad that i used just about everything i took with us on the boat. We spent the rest of the day figuring out what we need to take off and when. The main mast has to be taken down due to the bad storm when it was torn off the roller furling a few blog entries back. (far back in chub key). The few stitches i put in it has held wonderfully but we never could pull it completely out due to that fact. We put some stretch in those sails out on that ocean I assure you! Some sheets (lines) have to be replaced, some small cosmetic work, ton of cleaning, taking the heavy generator off the boat and on and on and on…………………..  I finally sat down and just relaxed going to take it easy because i know when i get home i will be busy for a while. Gonna miss this boat life. Steve and I have had a wild wonderful time and we will never forget or regret it :-). I saw manatees again  they are so neat. Huge creatures just playing in the water. Lot of big fish here in the marina but we are not fishing today. Well my time is running out to write my blog, our adventure will soon be at an end, maybe :-))

OK we are off again into the beautiful azure and teal blue waters of the Bahamas. I am going to miss the see thru waters. You can see all the way to the bottom of the Bahama banks. We had a sunny day and decided to sail in our bathing suits and get some sun. The water was calm and the sail was awesome. We listened to several weather reports on the radio from other boaters and there were storms behind us and around us but the weather stayed pretty for Steve and I. There were several other boaters on the water today going in all directions. Mainly to Manatilla key up north, little bahama bank site and west end where most boaters jump off and go to the Florida coast thru the gulf stream. We finally got to memory rock and several other boaters anchored out after we got there. Steve and I decided to keep going because the water was too rough to stay there. Steve took the first 4 hours and i took the next 3 hours and he took the last 5. The water was calm the wind was good but had clocked around to hit us on the bow,, it happened as soon as I stepped out the door and onto the deck. Steve looked at me and said, “what did you do?” Now we know i can change the wind direction. I can make millions, lol. I went down for sleep after my stint and Steve traveled on. I woke up and went on deck took the wheel and let Steve fall immediately to sleep. He and I were both exhausted from the 2-3 day sail without adequate rest. As soon as we got to Riverside Marina at 7 or 8 AM and tied up we paid our bill for docking and went to sleep. Got up went to get a rental van and ate lunch and headed back to dock to recover some more. Oh did i not mention Steve got sunburned very well so we just slept and recovered from the sail. If you dont think it is exhausting try it just try it. We like the boat yard here, we have to have our boat hauled out on the dry some work done and back into the water at some point. I am tired and getting off here to find my glasses and sleep . Goodnight everyone.

We are leaving today to sail toward Florida and HOME! We did not leave until 1PM we were going to explore GTC but we had such a beautiful day we just waited until grocery stores opened and bought supplies and left for the banks and home. We took the golf cart out this morning though and tried to explore all we did not see yesterday on our fast tour over to Bluff House. I took as many pics as i could while Steve raced across the island. We did slow down and go through the old part of town and look at the old houses. We stopped at a garden full of busts of important people from Green Turtle Cay. We ate lunch at a little bakery and restaurant about eleven and waited on a grocery store to open. Well on the boat again and out to the banks. We traveled all day to the Great Sail Cay and anchored out about 11 PM at night. Steve had read about a great anchorage that would protect us in the SE winds, all the other boats were in a little cove but we anchored out by a bank in the open. We had a wonderful night and heard the other captains complain about being rocked all night. I am so proud of Steve knowing that we would not be protected in the cove due to wind direction. It was a rough night going through a small pass before we anchored but we made it and sleep was goood!

Up early and ready to roll, went and said goodbye to our friends Debbie and David Goodrum and sailed off into the wild blue yonder. It is a beautiful day today and the sailing is wonderful. We decided not to stop at Man O War Cay and on to Green Turtle Cay, lucky we did we barely outran a big squall behind us. We passed little islands along the way, there are so many down here and we love it. One looked like a houseshoe the other like a big foot and then we saw some that looked like the ones on Pirates of the Caribbean movie. We did not get to go to the cave that they filmed Thunderball at. (That is in the Exxumas). Well we finally made it to Green Turtle Cay and anchored out after we navigated a tricky channel with a lot of narrow spots in it. The channel was called Black Sound. Our anchor held the first try and we got our dinghy ready and headed to town. First thing we did was find a golf cart to rent and some place to eat. Before we could eat i read my email and found out that our friends Ric and Nancy had not left yet! They were still at the Bluff House Marina. I told Steve and we left to that side of the island right away ( I was so excited i forgot to change my tshirt covering my bathing suit top) They had invited us to eat dinner with them in the email if we made it to the Cay. We snuck up on them at the marina and surprised them. It was so good to see them again we had left them at Marathon Key in Fla.. They have a black mouthed cur dog named Sadie, and even she was excited to see us. We sat and talked about all our adventures and went to a small patio bar on the ocean and was sitting outside when it started to rain and then it just poured down on us  so we ran back into the enclosed area. Well another diet coke for me bartender. We waited out the rain ran to the golf cart sat on wet seats and went to the nice restaurant at the marina. Wet clothes and all! They had some wonderful conch fritters and Steve had some awesome grouper. We sat with another couple at the marina also and laughed and talked for a while, then off in the golf cart in the dark cool and rainy. We enjoyed the ride and finally got back to the boat. O yeah we left the hatches up and the rain had gotten my cushions and quilts wet. I finally got everything hung outside to dry hopefully and wiped up the water and went to bed. Luckily our bed did not get wet this time.

Steve and I went into town this AM to wash clothes and take a tour of the places we missed by the water. Walking to the laundromat it was so sunny with a mild breeze coming off the water. There was an electronics shop next to the laundromat  and Steve went in to get some change while i went into the laundromat and started loading washers. The washers were only 2 dollars but the dryers (that actually had good heat) were a quarter a minute. I think i spent 32 dollars washing and drying 3 loads, ( one washer was 6 dollars though) for the comforter. I met some Haitian ladies who were washing clothes in a lot of the washers due to the fact one lady had a house fire and lost most everything and was washing everything they had left to remove the smoke smell. She had a very handsome little boy about 7 years old. We had a broken but understandable conversation. It took a little work but we understood each other. I finally got everything dried and bagged and ready to head out. Steve came back and we went to the bakery bought a loaf of fresh made coconut bread and 2 cinnamon rolls for the road, lol. Walking down by the waterfront after we left clothes and stuff at dinghy, we saw a little general store and several restaurants.. We stopped at a restaurant and sat out on the covered balcony and had a wonderful lunch. I have not found anything cheap in the islands yet. I guess you have to go where the tourists dont. Probably Guatemala. We went back by the General Store and it was so nice to be in a store that mimics the old general stores back home in TN. There is a really interesting history of the Bahama islands, I did not realize that the people faithful to the British crown that left America due to prosecution and a lot of the freed slaves from the south went to the islands to live and start anew. Great history lesson i guess i should have listened in history class instead of daydreaming or drawing. You are never too old to learn. Steve and I went back to the boat and we decided to take off on Sat morning to go to Green Turtle Key. Marsh Harbor is crowded and we had had enough. So goodnight everyone and stay tuned.

Good morning. We are in Marsh Harbor and ready to go ashore and find a place to wash clothes, and a place to buy that goooood bread! ( and even maybe some of those heavenly cinnamon rolls). We stopped by the FAITH and picked up Debbie so she could go to shore with us. We found the very nice dinghy dock and tied up. They have a very nice dock with plenty of room. Marsh Harbor is a big place for boaters.  We walked down a small street to the main street found a hardware store, and the laundromat. First we found the bakery whoo hoo. Yes they did have the cinnamon rolls and she also cooked coconut bread. After that we walked down the street to the computer store and looked around at some of the little stores. KFC is in town also in a strip mall. Junk food is all over the world. We walked down the street and asked one of the locals where the grocery store was she gave us good directions and it looked like a new walmart grocery called Maxwells. We stocked up on food and stuff (gotta have stuff on the boat, cant have enough STUFF. lol). We walked back to the dock took our food to the boat and Steve created a fin to steady the boat while at anchor, because we swing a lot on one anchor. He made it out of duc tape and cardboard and it worked as well as the fancy ones on the other boats. I wished i had not forgotten our rebel flag fender covers, doggonit!  We are not politically correct if you have not guessed that already. We are going to go out and explore tomorrow some more.

Good morning everyone we are getting ready to head to Hope Town. The thing about the Abaco’s is that the islands are not too far apart and easy to get too. Steve and I got our anchor up threw up the sails and off we go. The wind was so nice it pushed us all the way to Hope Town Harbor. I stood on the bow with the headsail up and just enjoyed the ride. The boat was heeling to the port side but not bad enough to slow us down. We passed a sail boat close to our starboard and it was the guy that was cracking conch on the shore and had a little boy who wanted to say HI. He was that close to us so we could yell across to each other. His little boy loves to sail. We anchored out in the harbor (lesson 7986 on how to anchor in sand and strong wind and hit my target, lol). We headed into the town to the pretty red and white striped light house. We docked at the lighthouse marina and went into the store there and checked out the neat stuff and clothing (whew toooo expensive for my taste). Loved the light house, all metal stairs and a small crawl area at the top to climb  out onto the balcony  to check out the island. There was a small fishing net around the  rails so no one falls off. It actually had a curved chifferobe to fit the wall inside the lighthouse. It is still a functioning lighthouse with the steam machinery there. It was wonderful to see. I ran down the stairs just to see how fast i could do it and get a good picture of Steve from down at the bottom of the lighthouse. We toured the town and ate at Captain Jack”s for lunch sitting by the water watching the blue fish swim around with the sun glinting off the shiny blue color. I had baked chicken and a salad and steve had baked grouper and rice. It was very good and we had a good time. The conch fritters were very good but cannot beat the ones on Bimini at CJ’s. They are still number one. On our town tour we saw so many cute houses and a neat garden with stepping stones with concrete and sliced conch shell in them. Love the islands they are so pretty. The view of the ocean was so beautiful from that island. The breakers and the waves were awesome. Picture perfect!  We went back to the boat and headed to Marsh Harbor about an hour and half away. We came into that harbor ( wow a lot of boats there). this harbor is called chicken harbor number 2 due to the fact some boaters never go any further than here. After that storm on the Atlantic into Spanish Wells it is going to be hard to scare me. I have never been that scared in my complete lifetime. We got anchored out good did not like it and moved again to a better position. Well i had not seen harbor nazis until now. Nuff said. We got settled watched a movie with our friends David and Debbie. Then off to bed i have some congestion that just wont go. Good night everyone!