Bright Eyes

Bright Eyes Listing

2011-09-19T16:54:00.000-04:00

Epilogue: Bright Eyes Gets A New Engine

2011-08-01T13:29:00.000-04:00

We are still here in Ft. Lauderdale working on the engine. After getting a bunch of quotes and talking to mechanics we found that it was just as expensive to swap in a new engine.

So we are now awaiting a fully rebuilt Yanmar 3GM30 with a one year warranty! It also comes with a new transmission. When it comes in we will get towed to the boat yard and have them do the swap. I thought about doing the labor myself but it wasn't too expensive and they will do it much faster and correct.

At that point we will put Bright Eyes in a slip somewhere between here and Stuart Florida and leave it with a broker to sell.

Since we are putting in a fully rebuilt engine with a one year warranty we will be listing Bright Eyes for $35,000. However, for the next week or two before we contract a broker we are offering her for $31,000 since we would save on the broker fee and slip fees.

Make us an offer!

Bright Eyes For Sale

2011-07-24T17:05:00.002-04:00

And now for the main item...

1985 Seidelmann 37

LOA 37’ (40 with davits)
Beam 12’
Draft 4’6’’
Displacement 13,900 lbs
Main Sail and 140 Genoa
Mainsail outfitted for the Dutchman Sail Flaking System
44lb Claw Anchor, Two 22lb Fortress Anchors
Two 30 gallon water tanks
18 gallon fuel tank
13 gallon holding tank
6’5’’ head room
9’x11’ V-berth, Starboard single settee, Port double settee, two pilot berths, port aft quarter berth (sleeps 6)

Engine: 1985 Yanmar 3GM30, 2600 hours, 24hp

Improvements (all made since May 2009)

44lb Claw Anchor with 75ft 5/16 HT G4 Chain and 225 ft 5/8 triple braid rope
Lofrans Royal Manual Windlass
Raymarine SPX5 Auto Pilot
Martek 250 Dinghy Davits
Garmin 441s with transducer and arm mount
Solas Parachute Flare, Flare Gun with flares, Four handheld flares, Air horn signal
Prop Guard Blade
Two Sunforce 80 watt Solar Panels, 30-Amp digital charge controller
New Starter Battery, purchased July 2011
Xanex Battery Monitor
1500 watt Cobra Inverter
New on board VHF, purchased January 2011
Four 12 volt fans, two in cabin and two in v-berth
Two LED Cabin Light fixtures
LED Masthead and Anchor Light fixture
LED Red/Greed Running Light Bulbs, LED stern light bulb, Two LED cabin light bulbs
New Main Haylard, purchased December 2010
Two cleats on sliding tracks
Lifeline Netting
Single Basin Galley Sink
New fiberglass exhaust muffler, Exhaust manifold cover, Cooling system hoses, purchased May 2010
Racor 500 Fuel Filter
New Secondary Fuel Filter Encasing, Fuel Lift Pump, Fuel Line Hoses, purchased August 2010
Fuel Gauge in Cockpit
New Lube Oil Pipe, purchased December 2010

Reductions
CNG Stove removed and replaced with Microwave and storage shelves
No House batteries since July 2011
Starboard Bow Fairlead needs replacing
Cockpit Cushions need replacing

Three Canvas Zippers need replacing

We are currently working on repairing the engine which will not start right now. It is not getting compression and we believe it has a bad piston ring.

Once we get the engine fixed the boat will be put on the hard and listed with a broker in Ft Lauderdale, Florida. We will list it for $34,000

If we decide not to fix the engine due to cost then we will list the boat for $29,000 because we found a replacement engine online for $4,000 that we can refer you to.

We are also offering a $3000 discount if you buy the boat before we leave Ft Lauderdale. This will save us from putting the boat on land storage and selling through a broker. We plan to stay here about a week or two to prep the boat for sale so contact us asap to set something up.

So for this week only the list price is $26,000

We can be reached at 240-305-7177.

Thank You, Good Bye, and Stuff For Sale

2011-07-24T16:33:00.002-04:00

So after a lot of thought and consideration we have decided to hang up our sailing caps for now. We got to experience our dream and had the time of our life both good and bad. Now that we are back in the States we really appreciate all the nicities that you take for granted; showers, toilets, electricity, fresh food, family.

Also as we are about to turn 26 and 27 we want to get on with other aspects of life like starting our own family. Maybe later in life we will return to the water with a lot more experience and luxury! We have learned so much from this whole experience and are grateful to have the chance to pull it off.

We want to thank all our family, friends and blog readers for their support. And a big thanks to all the people who have helped us along the way, we would not have been able to do it without the wonderfully helpful sailing community. And a special thanks to Eric our boating mentor for his wealth of advice.

We have decided leave Bright Eyes in Ft Lauderdale to sell and move back to Maryland to live. We have dumped more money than we'd like to admit into this adventure (I'm an accountant and have it all in excel) so we want to get as much back as possible. Therefor we are selling a lot of our equipment as separate items that will directly benefit someone looking for cruising stuff.

We will be in Ft Lauderdale for about a week then will take all this stuff to sell in MD.

Please us at call 240-305-7177 to inquire.

Chesapeake Bay Chart book - $40 ($60 value)
Atlantic ICW Chartbook - $40 ($70 Value)
Skippers Bob ICW Anchorages -- Free with purchase ($17 value)
Explorer Near Bahamas Chart book - $40 ($65 value)
Explorer Exumas Bahamas Chart book - $40 ($65 value)
Explorer Far Bahamas Chart book -$40 ($65 value)
Dosier's Cruising the Bahamas Guide book - $20 ($40 value)
All four Bahamas books for $120 ($235 value)

8ft Walker Bay Dinghy Inflatable - $400 ($630 value)
8ft Dinghy Cover, 600 denier - $30 ($55 value)
2010 3.5 hp Mercury 4 stroke outboard engine - $600 ($1050 value)

Two Green Zone Folding Bikes 20'' 6 speed with bags $250 ($400 value)
120v Ice Maker - $70 ($140 value) SOLD
100 amp alternator, brand new unused - $100 ($160 value)
Alcohol Stove, single burner 6800 btu - $80 ($155 Value)
Spot Locator - $80 ($120 Value)
Two Mustang Deluxe Inflatable Life Vests with Harnesses - $150 ($400 value) SOLD
Mast Top Climber with line - $100 ($350 Value) SOLD
Handheld Garmin - $100 ($200 value)
Handheld VHF HX 280S - $50 ($90 Value) SOLD
TV Antennae with mast mount - $80 -- ($200 value)

Portable red/green navigation light for dinghy - $20 ($35 value) SOLD
Two group 27 battery boxes $10 ($20 value)
Two Fishing Rod holders, rail mount - $30 ($70 value)
West Marine Air Dryer Dehumidifier - $30 ($60 value)
Rule Portable Hose with 12v/120v charger - $30 ($85 value)
West Marine Binoculars, Huahine 7x50 - $40 ($60 value)
20ft 5/16 HT G4 Chain, unused - $60 ($75 value) SOLD
Two 40 ft Safety Lines - $30 ($50 value) SOLD
Rail mount drink holder - $20 ($40 value)
Oil change drill attachment - $20 ($45 value)
Outboard engine bridle - $20 ($40 value) SOLD
Outboard engine rail mount, wooden - $20 ($30 value)
30amp to 15 amp adapter - $20 ($40 value)
Marriage Saver Two Way Headsets - $50 ($75 value) SOLD
Six 5 gallon yellow diesel jugs - $10 each or $50 for all six ($120 value) SOLD
Six 5 gallon collapsible water jugs - $20 ($35 value) SOLD

Bright Eyes is Back in America.....The End

2011-07-23T15:25:00.003-04:00

We planned to leave Nassau asap Thursday morning but things didn't go so well.

First we overslept till 7:45am. Then when we went to turn on our Garmin we noticed it wouldn't stay on because our last lonely battery had gotten too low. So we had to walk to the marine store and pay a whopping $190 for a starter battery then lug it back to the boat. ugh. Then after installing the new battery a storm swooped in and kept us inside for a bit. Then finally around 1pm we started pulling up the anchor only to find that the anchor chain had wrapped around another huge old anchor that had been left behind. Our chain was covered in algae and wouldn't stay in the windlass so I had to pull up both anchors by hand without an engine, UGH! We ended up tying off to a near by mooring ball while I pulled the old ruins anchor into the dinghy and untangled it.

Around 2pm we were finally free. We untied from the mooring, raised the sails and left Nassau behind.

We sailed pretty slowly, about 3.5mph, all day and all night reaching the Great Bahama Banks around 5:30am. We saw a few tankers coming through the north east channel that night but we kept our distance. We also saw a few storms brewing around us but managed to dodge them all.

We spent all Friday sailing the Great Bahama Banks. We did a little better this day, averaging about 5 mph. We put our third crew member, the auto pilot, to work. Great Job!

Alone at the helm on the Great Bahama Banks and surrounded by water I decided to capture the moment on video. It went really great until the end when I couldn't figure out how to stop recording and stopped paying attention to steering. (You can hear the boom slam to the other side) haha

At first we were using 8 hour shifts to get plenty of sleep but the sleep underway wasn't any good so we switched to 2 hour shifts with naps in the cockpit. We passed North Bimini around 8:30pm Friday night and entered the Atlantic Gulf Stream as the sky went dark.

We were sailing pretty well, around 8 mph, when all of a sudden the wind died. We were kind of floating in circles trying to harvest a little wind when all of a sudden the wind kicked into overdrive and thunder started booming. We reduced our head sail and stayed close to the wind to keep our speed around 6 mph. The winds went crazy for about an hour as the sky constantly lit up with lightening and thunder, but oddly/luckily no rain.

Waves scare us more than heavy wind and the waves never got too big so we managed well and soon the storm had passed. We sailed steadily toward Ft Lauderdale through the night and arrived about 5 miles outside the harbor at 7:30 am Saturday morning. We called tow boat and they came and scooped us up. Of course one last squall came and rained on us while we were waiting. We then called Cooleys Landing and reserved a slip.

The friendly tow boat guys took us on a scenic tour through downtown Ft Lauderdale to our marina.

And so after sailing 198 miles over 44 straight hours we had finally arrived back in the States!

Coincidently Joey's mom Tina is in Ft. Lauderdale with the family she nannies for. Cliff, the dad, was kind enough to let us spend a day recooperating in his condo, in the AC!!! relaxing, and even took us to the resort he belongs to Lago Mar, and out to a neat brazilian steakhouse - Chimas.

We will spend the next week repairing the engine and cleaning the boat out. It feels good to be home and bittersweet to end our adventure.

Thank you for all the support and well wishes and to anyone who enjoyed reading :)

The Fate of Bright Eyes blog to come...

Bahama Mama

2011-07-20T16:14:00.000-04:00

Last Wednesday the 13th my Mom flew down to visit us and spend a week on the boat. Lesser travelers would not have fared as well but my mom is a trooper and lasted the whole week on the rocking, leaky Bright Eyes.

The first day we put her legs to work and walked the mile to the grocery store giving her a view of uptown Nassau and all our favorite spots.

Thursday we walked downtown and showed her all the cruise ship shops. On the way we stopped and finally saw the Queens Stair Case. It used to be a defensive fort and was hand built a long time ago. We didn't make my mom climb it but we did and got pics from the top.

Most of our nights were spent playing board games with a cooler of beer. We just found out that the Green Parrot sells a huge bag of ice for $3, gold!

We played Monopoly, Backgammon, Thraxx, Parcheesy, Rummy, Gin Rummy, Rummicube, Sequence, and Dominoes. We've seen Dominoes played by the locals at almost every island we visited. It must be the official national game. So we finally got a set and learned how to play.

Nomy and Nala were glad to have a new friend.

Christine showed off her prowess in the kitchen and made many of our favorite dishes.

The Green Parrot was happy my mom was visiting because we actually spent a lot of money there ordering full meals. We were glad to order the savory meals we had been skipping over the last month like the Works Burger and Blooming Onion.

My mom got to experience a cruisers sun-downer which is everyone's favorite. The sunset is always amazing.

Friday we dinghied over to Atlantis in search of a beach. We found a public one just outside the hotel. It was swarmed with locals trying to sell you things but we still had a good time. After the 4th vendor tried to rent us an umbrella we finally agreed for $10. The water felt great as it is our "shower". We like the empty islands better though when we have the whole beach to ourselves.

Saturday we went back to Atlantis for some more fun. We took mom to the aquarium now that we know you can just walk in for free sometimes. We saw the huge manta rays and sharks again.

Atlantis also has a free movie theater so we went and saw Rango. At night we went to a comedy club. The comics spent most of the time making fun of the audience and the headliner Mutsy was really funny. We got off pretty easy with just a Marylanders have crabs joke.

Sunday we relaxed around the boat and let mom have a small rest from her vacation. Then we made a short walk to the straw markets again and had a final dinner at the Green Parrot. We all sat around on the internet till the Parrot closed to show mom how we usually chill.

And more family game night!

Monday, moms last day, we went to Atlantis in hopes to hang out at there beach. We walked to their beach on Saturday so we thought we could spend the day there but they had staff guarding the beach this time so we got denied. So instead we went to the Casino and hit the penny slots.

Our goal was to get free drinks while making $15 last but we only got one round of drinks and then the waitress was nowhere to be found. But it was our lucky day as we turned $15 into $55 in about 2 hours! Most of it was my mom who turned her $5 into $45 at one point, that's one lucky mama.

On the way back to the boat across the harbor we got caught in a squall. We have been watching Tropical Storm Brett hover above the Bahamas so we must we getting pieces of it as it was squally all week.

My mom finally got caught up in one of our mishaps and we arrived to the main ship soaking wet as lightening lit up the sky.

On Tuesday morning my mom caught a cab back to the airport. She had a great time seeing us and experiencing the boat but we are sure she is glad to be back in the comforts of a real home.

We are right behind her though as we plan to leave here asap. There are a few storms brewing around the Caribbean and one potential hurricane that just left Africa. So we are saying goodbye to Nassau and all of the Bahamas and will be taking off tomorrow, Thursday the 21st of July.

We will be sailing to Ft Lauderdale, without an engine, over the next two days, maybe straight through. When we get close to Florida we will call Tow Boat to bring us into the harbor and put us in a slip.

Wish us luck for our final adventure!

Celebrating Bahamas Independence

2011-07-12T16:09:00.001-04:00

Like we said before, Nassau isn't the worst place in the world to be stuck. It is pretty expensive and the beaches are distant and crowded but there is still plenty to enjoy.

July 10th was Bahamas Independence Day so we have been enjoying the celebrations.

Here is that scary dredging barge that we had to sail and anchor next to at night. It looks like it wants to eat sailboats. We threw out a second anchor to keep from swinging into it and then it moved to harass other boats.

For $30 we can get 15 Kaliks and a bag of ice. This is how we reward our selves after a few days of blistering heat.

Our friend Francois has been anchored next to us and has been a big help with our engine. We have been enjoying the city with him.

We went to Atlantis again, this time with Francois showing us how to do it cheaper. They have complimentary movies in Theater! So we saw Gnomeo and Juliet, and Just Go With It.

We also found that you can just walk through the aquarium for free! (Nobody checks for wristbands) Why did we pay $80 last time, ugh.

Then we enjoyed the gypsy/pirate show. There were fire dancers, stilt dancers, and a mermaid. It was a huge carnival party.

The rest of our time here has been hunting down free internet signals. The Green Parrot, Starbucks, McDonalds, and the side of buildings are our favorite spots.

Here is Christine being a rebel.

As for our departure plans we have decided to just sail to Florida just the two of us and fix the engine there. Here is the thread we posted on Cruiser Forum which has a lot of advice. We think it is a bad piston ring.

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f54/cruiser-stranded-in-need-of-advice-63643.html

Thank you for all the help and offers to crew but we want to get out of here asap before the weather gets worse. My mom is coming to visit this week and then we will get going.

We hope to sail into Fort Lauderdale, fix the engine and put the boat on dry storage while we are in MD. So if anyone has any recommendations for a good mechanic or good marina let us know.

How Will Bright Eyes Get Home?

2011-07-05T16:43:00.001-04:00

So in our week here, stranded in Nassau, we have had a lot of diagnostic work done on the engine.

If you don't fancy engine talk then skim down to the page break below to find out what we have decided.

I went through the engine looking for oil leaks and tightened a few bolts and hose clamps that showed signs of leakage. I checked that the fuel filter was clean of water and that fuel was reaching the cylinders. There was excess transmission fluid so I removed it all and added new oil. I resealed a small water leak at the water intake filter. I checked the aft engine zinc which was fine.

The primary indications of problem were oil coming out of the exhaust when we were going through heavy waves and when trying to get off of a shoal. The main engine oil leak seems to be between the transmission and the engine block. The head gasket shows no sign of oil leaking. I replaced the oil lube pipe before we left and it was still leak free. The engine does turn over but would still not start.

The first mechanic opened the oil cap and felt a lot of air coming out as we tried to start the engine. From this he concluded that there was crank case pressure and probably a failed piston. He said they need to remove the engine from the boat and take it apart to find the problem. But then later he said that our engine did not have a liner on the head gasket and that the head was probably scorched and that they did not have a machine shop to fix it so we would need a new engine: $10,000 estimate

Our friend Francois from George Town just happened to be anchored next to us here and came over to lend his expertise. He tried switching the compression levers over. He noticed the air coming out of the oil cap when removed as well as fumes. He concluded that there could be a faulty valve that might have seized the last time our engine leaked out oil. Or we could have a failed piston ring in need of replacement. He advised me to take the valve cover off and find the faulty valve. He also said I should be able to take the head off and into a mechanics shop to have the valve replaced without removing the whole engine.

The second mechanic tested all the fuel lines for fuel. There was fuel coming through. He used starting fluid on the air intake as well as switching the compression levers. He too noticed the fumes coming from the removed oil cap. He also put gasoline on a rag and put it over the air intake to try to start it. It would not. He concluded that their was a compression problem, probably a failed piston ring. The only option they gave us was to remove the engine from the boat and take it apart back at their shop to find the problem. The estimate was at least $3000.

None of these mechanics seemed honest though so we are not paying $1000 to have the engine removed and then getting stuck in a situation where we have to pay $10,000 for a new engine or paying another $2000 to have our engine put back together with nothing solved.

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So that leaves us with few options to get back home.

1) We will attempt to take the engine apart ourselves and find the failed valve or try to take the head to a mechanic for fixing. If the engine starts we will sail to Florida, only using the engine to dock/anchor.

2) We will fly in an experienced sailor to help us sail back to Florida or Maryland (preferably MD) without an engine. We can't afford to pay anyone but we can cover all your expenses. We can pay for two people to fly into Nassau to sail to MD or one person to sail to Florida and then we would fly them home. We estimate the sail to MD to be about 7-10 days straight and the Florida sail to be 2 days straight . If you are interested in this please email me at jtp1285@hotmail.com to talk details.

3) Our last option is to sail without an engine to Florida by ourselves. We do believe we can do this. Our only concerns are sailing upwind, getting stuck in a storm, and docking. We can use our Boat US to help with the docking. We also learned a trick from Francois where we can tie up our dinghy to the side of the boat and use the 3.5hp outboard to tow ourselves.

My mom was supposed to fly into Eluethera to spend a week with us but because of our immobility she will just hop off the plane at her Nassau layover. She will be here later this month so we have until after her visit to make a decision.

Until then we will just hang tight. It's not the worse place in the world to be stuck :)

Bright Eyes in Peril

2011-06-29T23:52:00.002-04:00

We enjoyed three calm days at Normans Cay. We got some grub at the Normans Cay Beach Club. It was expensive of course but much needed.

We snorkeled a wrecked plane that was really cool. At high tide you can see the top portion of the plane and it doesn't look like much but under the water it is an entire 75 foot long plane with wings and fish swimming all around it. We took pics with the disposable under water camera so you will have to wait to see those.

On Tuesday the 28th we left Normas heading for Highborne Cay. We had to motor around the corals and through some shoals and then our engine decided to quit on us. We have had a small oil leaking problem for awhile and it finally got worse. We have been adding oil to the engine pretty consistently to keep it happy. This time when the engine died we threw out the anchor in shallow water and then added oil and started it back up. It ran for and bit and then conked out again.

We decided to sail up to Highborne for possible help. We made it pretty close until one of our turns required us to go upwind. We are absolutely horrible at sailing upwind. We can never get more than a perpendicular angle with the wind on either side. We even broke out the Sailing For Dummies book for help and couldn't get upwind. So we anchored in a relatively safe area and looked up engine mechanic info.

Our desired destination of Eluethera did not offer much but Nassau had an advertisement. So that's where we decided to go.

Highborne Cay Marina was supposed to give the weather everyday at 7:30am so we got up then to listen but they said they couldn't get the weather. That began the longest day ever.

We used our manual windlass to crank up 120ft of anchor rode against the wind. That was no fun. We then sailed in the direction of Nassau by 8:30am.

We were headed directly down wind which we also have trouble sailing. We were able to gibe most the way pretty well. Around 1pm we had to cross the Yellow Banks which is a shallower area with a lot of coral heads scattered around. On the way down we went around it but this time we decided to go through it because of our slow sailing.

Of course right before we get to the Yellow Banks the sky turns dark and storm clouds loom over us. We were smart enough to put on our life jackets but not foul weather gear. As we enter the coral garden chilly winds hit us. We reduced our sail to slow down as the winds picked up and then it started pouring raining. Christine laid on the cockpit seat trying to cover up with small pillows while I shivered at the helm. We were both just wearing our bathing suits and life jackets.

Eventually Christine remembered not all our hatches were closed so she went below to close them. The only damage was half our bed was soaking wet (my half of the bed). She came back with jackets for us. That made it bearable in the cold stinging rain. The storm lasted an hour and a half as we navigated through the shallow corals. The corals were much scarier than the storm which was really just uncomfortable compared to the big waves we've been through other times.

And then around 2:30pm the storm finally let up and we came out of the Yellow Banks safely. However the storm took all the wind with it and soon our sails were luffing and then laying like curtains. Originally our Garmin told us our arrival time was 5pm, now it was saying 5am the next morning. When we had only 4 miles to get in the Nassau Harbor we were basically drifting with the water at less than 1 mph.

We drifted our way into the harbor around 8pm and then the current took a hold of us. We lowered the Genoa and left up the main sail for direction. Our goal was to anchor in the first anchorage before the bridges. However we underestimated the current when we turned into the wind to drop the main sail and by the time we got the anchor down we were swinging close to a charter boat docked.

Night had fallen by now and we had to re-anchor. Instead of cranking up the anchor one link at a time like before we figured out how to let out some of the Genoa and sail back and forth upwind on the anchor as I pulled it up. But once we had the anchor up we had our familiar problem of not being able to sail upwind so we couldn't get a better anchorage spot.

That meant we had to try the next anchorage down, on the other side of the two bridges. So Christine went on the bow with her headset on and a fog horn and I used the half Genoa and the current to take us through the bridges. It was a lot scarier before than after. No other boats came and we made it through with ease.

We then pulled into the next anchorage which was where we anchored the first time we came to Nassau. However there was a huge barge sitting at the entrance making our life miserable. We couldn't sail across and anchor right away because the current was still pushing us so we had to cut through the barge and another boat and anchor behind the barge. We got the anchor down just in time to give us enough distance between us and the boat behind us.

So at 10pm we could finally get off the boat. We quickly headed to the Green Parrot, our favorite lodge and now you know the days story.

While we are here we plan to find a mechanic and hopefully get the engine in a better mood. And then back over to Eluethera. Wish us luck.

Again sorry for the lack of pics but grabbing the camera was far from our minds most of the day.

I drew this picture to depict us in the storm

Woods and Water Trails, Shroud Cay

2011-06-25T19:34:00.000-04:00

Surprise! We found internet at Normans Cay. Thank you Linksys!

Finishing up our Warderick Wells Cay visit we went on a dangerous hike!

Here is our boat on it's first ever mooring ball. It took a little figuring out but we got it. That is Emerald Rock under the sun.

After a short dinghy to the beach we found this hidden entrance to a trail. Christine is in this pic already hiking up the little cliff.

There were several rat/wombat like things scurrying around in the trees. We found out later they are Bahamas only native mammal, the Hutia.

We passed lots of ruins that just looked like rocks stacked up but are from the 1800s. This was someones house a long time ago.

The trail was rocky and you had to watch out for these really deep holes. We don't know how they were formed but they were deep and creepy.

We passed signs warning us of the "Touch Me Not" flower and "Poison Wood"

Then we found a ruins wall leading us to another beach. How pleasant. Actually the whole hike was fun and not really dangerous at all.

This beach had a curious floating house on the water. Maybe that's what we will buy next.

The next day we had to move off the mooring and anchored again. The next morning our trusty Claw anchor decided to take the day off and we woke to find that we had dragged some 200 feet into shoal. We don't think we were on it long because we didn't notice any bumping till we got up.

After a few attempts of using the engine and the anchor windlass to pull us off we realized we were stuck good and had to call the Park. They sent out a boat that pulled us off pretty easily and we headed off to Shroud Cay

After a nice sail north we arrived at Shroud Cay at high tide and decided to give that river trail another attempt. On the way down the Exumas we tried to kayak the river at low tide and failed miserably.

This time we had another 2 feet under us and took the 3.5hp dinghy!

Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park

It was a lot nicer this time and a very scenic ride.

We are glad we gave up kayaking last time because it was a long, windy ride, about 25 minutes in the dinghy.

But eventually we found the secrete beach on the other side and it was sure worth it. The whole area was beautiful so we broke out the camera for a Scopes like shooting.

This dark spot was a ocean hole. It was shallow all around it but the hole is supposed to go down deep!

At the beach we climbed a hill for some high shots. Here's the river we took to get there.

The next day we went to our favorite beach on the north side. We just spent the day reading, running, and relaxing until the tide came up and kicked us out.

Shroud Cay is one of our favorite islands. So pretty!

Lionfish and Sharks and Pigs, O my

2011-06-22T17:57:00.000-04:00

Saturday the 11th we arrived back at one of our favorite spots, Staniel Cay!

And we just happened to walk in during a Lionfish competition. Lionfish are small fish covered in poisonous barbs. Because of this they have no natural predators and are over populated. The Staniel Cay Divers sponsored an event to help fish them.

Two teams caught over a hundred Lionfish that day with spears. We arrived for the good part, the music and Lionfish cooking competition.

As people were gutting the Lionfish a bunch of sharks came to feast on the scraps. They were circling all around the fish table and really big. We have never seen so many sharks even at the Nassau Aquarium.

The band was an acoustic duo that played a lot of songs we liked so that was really cool. For the cooking competition 5 chefs made 5 distinct dishes and everyone was given a plate to taste and vote. There was a onion and pepper fish, jelly sauce fish, curry fish, teriayki fish, and our favorite and the winner, a sweet and sour fish. Mmmmm they were all served over rice and delicious. They were also selling Lionfish cookbooks and serving free drinks. The winners of the competitions received over $3500 in total prizes.

Staniel Cay Divers sure know how to throw a party!

We fed our left over rice to these hungry fish.

As we mentioned before, our underwater camera never came into George Town. So we bought a disposable underwater camera at Staniel Cay to take pictures of Thunderball Grotto. We need to get them developed so we still can't post pictures of the amazing, fish filled cave. We hope the pics turn out.

We left Staniel Cay Tuesday and stopped just around the corner at Big Majors, home of the pigs!

We noticed Thunderball Grotto and Big Majors were a lot more crowded this time with visitors, but this piggy must have slept through his last meal because he was hungry!

As soon as we got to the beach he came running out and would sit with his mouth open waiting for us to drop Graham Crackers in.

Then as we tried to feed the other pigs he got a little rude. He would follow us and nudge his nose into us and once he even bit me and then Christine! It was just a nibble on the thigh with no teeth but it was still surprising. Most the pigs were so well behaved.

Me in a stare down with fatty.

Our old friend baby piggy.

Then as we were about to leave, the trouble maker thought we were holding out on him and tried to jump in our dinghy! I had a cracker in my hand and had to yell for him a couple times before he got out, although we think he was stuck for a second.

We said goodbye to the pigs and continued north.

Our next few destinations were just beachy islands we decided to anchor at instead of skipping them.

We stopped at Thomas Cay which had an odd make shift hut that said "Pipe Creek Yacht Club"

From inside the "Yacht Club". There's our boat.

We found a few conch laced trails that led into the jungle island.

We crossed to the other side after a short safari.

Here's our boat from the top of the jungle with our kayaks landed on the beach to the left.

Next we kayaked over to Joe Cay!

It was a small cay that was mostly sand and had a few tiki huts in the middle.

Welcome to my island!

And Mrs. Joe

We then found out why it was so sandy with huts and a single dock in the middle. It was private. Kicked off our on Cay, shucks.

We kayaked back to the boat, kinda. We actually got stuck in the strong channel current going out to sea but managed to land on the other side of Thomas Cay that we found earlier. We then had to carry our kayaks through the safari and then kayaked back to the boat. It was quite the work out for two lazy beach bums.

From Thomas Cay we anchored at Pipe Cay and then Belle Island near Cambridge Cay. We attempted to anchor at Cambridge but the mooring balls took up most of the anchorage and we didn't know how to obtain a mooring. (We later found out that there is a drop box on the beach that you just put $15 in for a mooring)

From Belle Island we slowly sailed to Warderick Wells Cay which is where the Exuma Land and Sea Park HQ is and Boo Boo Hill.

This is where we currently are. We hiked Boo Boo Hill again and saw our spray painted log with our name on it still there. This time it was high tide and we had to cross a small 2 foot high stream. Then we did a little snorkeling around Emerald Rock.

We went to the main office and after some thought coughed up the $35 for a mooring ball and one day of internet. It had been 8 days since we had internet and we don't want anyone worrying out there :)

Next we will visit a few more Exuma Cays before hopping over to Eluethera by July 1st which is about when we should have internet again.

White Point and Black Point

2011-06-12T17:03:00.000-04:00

We left Leaf Cay and had to beat against the crushing waves one more time. After about 20 minutes of huge waves kicking our butts in the channel we were out far enough to sail north. At that point we decided we would NOT enter the ocean on rough days any more!

We pulled into Little Farmers Cay. We explored the tiny island which consist of two restaurants and a grocery. The grocery was bare though and said the mail boat hadn't come in 3 weeks.

We ate at Little Farmers Cay Yacht Club and left shortly the next day.

O and we saw a small turtle swimming on the sand under our boat, and then we saw a really big, 2 or 3 feet, turtle swimming near by. It was cool!

We took advantage of the south winds and sailed easily on the calm side of the cays up to White Point Beach

There was an easy hill to climb that provided a great view of the idyllic beach

We relaxed at the beach, swam and even did some beach running.

Next stop was the more bustling Black Point

They had a library here for us to get new books as well as several local book exchanges.

We spent most of our time at Lorains Cafe which had tv, internet, electricity, and cheap local cuisine.

There were signs to this "crusier must see" Garden of Eden. We went but it was just a bunch of drift wood and plants and looked like a garden graveyard.

We did however find a blow hole!

Woooo fun!!!!

High Seas to Leaf Cay

2011-06-09T15:29:00.002-04:00

We left George Town on Wednesday June 1st. The weather was pretty windy but we never let that stop us before. As we made it out of the harbor the waves got bigger and bigger and were crashing on us. It just reminded us of some bad days on the Chesapeake so we kept going.

Soon the waves were over our head (i'd guess 10 feet) and the boat was pitching side to side hard. We had everything inside tied off good so that was no worries but it still didn't feel good on the boat. I would steer into the bigs waves slightly to prevent the harsh rocking. Nomy began to cry as the waves crashed on deck and got us wet.

It started raining and Christine, who was reading her e-reader, got up to put it and our camera inside. Just then a huge wave smacked us on the side and threw Christine to the lifelines. The force of the jerk sent her e-reader flying out of her hand and into the deep blue sea. It was a scary moment as I thought she was going over too, but luckily the netting and life lines kept her in. Christine was very upset about losing her second e-reader, that we just got, as we both held on through the rest of the huge waves.

We made it back to Normans Cay, where we anchored on the way down, but took a left over to Leaf Cay this time. After much debate we decided we would go back to George Town to get some more books since the e-reader was gone, have another under water camera shipped through dhl this time, and just hang around our town that we missed already.

The ocean had different plans. The next day as we headed back to GT the waves were somehow bigger. The narrow channel to enter the ocean had huge waves breaking right on our bow and the boat was shooting to the moon and then crashing down. We made it through there but after about 5 miles of motoring the engine slowed and then died. This wasn't a spot to be working on the engine down below as the boat was still pitching with each monster wave (they looked closer to 15 feet now), so we opened up the genoa (our front sail, our favorite sail) and kept moving along. We couldn't aim south to George Town though because the wind was in our face so we turned around and headed back to Leaf Cay.

This actually turned out pretty nice. Since we were now sailing about 6-7 knots with just the genoa up instead of motoring we felt more in tune with the waves. We crashed into less of them and seemed to drift easily over them with the wind. The scary part of sailing back through the narrow channel and to our anchorage turned out to be a piece of cake and soon we were spinning the boat into the wind to drop the genny and toss out the anchor where we had started a few hours before.

At anchor I found an oil leak and tightened it up and the engine came back alive. But now we knew we didn't need that dumb engine. The winds are at our backs now heading north...

Friday we decided to rest and check out the Leaf Cay beach. Back to island living!

We were greeted by the funny green and pink iguanas. There were only four as opposed to the tons at Allens Cay and these guys were a little more brave.

They came right up to us and we found some near by fruit to feed them. Soon they were eating a buffet out of our hands.

The beach itself was nice and we did some exploring to look for sea beans.

We wanted to circumnavigate the island but the winds were strong on the other side and it was raining too. We cut through and then had to do rock hiking to get back to our boat

We found a small beach with the largest conch garden/graveyard we've ever seen. These are all conch shells and there was more out of camera

At one point I wanted to walk through the water to get back to our dinghy but I'm glad we didn't because we saw a nurse shark swimming around.

This is the tiniest hermit crab we've found!

It's good to be back with nature

Nomy is more of a hotel cat.

George Town Exumas Bahamas, Virtual Tour

2011-06-07T18:52:00.000-04:00

After the last blog with the lack of pictures we realized that we hadn't taken many pictures of this wonderful town we've called home for 6 1/2 weeks. So here is George Town in Pictures..

Our view of the town from our boat

To get to the dinghy dock we have to go under this narrow bridge that creates a super fast current. Going in is like hitting a booster in Mario Cart, and coming out we go about .0001 mph while waves crash into us. It's fun every time!

Here's the cruiser parking lot. Its June 1st so most cruisers have left, but the dock used to stay very crowded

Our first spot is the newly founded Bikini Bottom which serves great food, ice cream, and is a local hang out. The owner was very friendly. From here you can pull the Exuma Market Grocery store internet.

Which means next in line is the grocery store, Exuma Markets. The mail boat comes on Tuesday so Wednesday is the best day to see the store packed with food.

This lil hut didn't have a name but the guy here sells bbq pork, chicken or ribs with macaroni and corn for $10 and it was the best we found around! It was so hard to walk by as her was constantly grilling. That should be illegal advertising because it smelled so good!

This is also where Darren the peanut guy hangs out and you can get a bag of roasted peanuts for $1

Next is the park where we spent many nights. The school kids come here after school to hang out.

Across the street is Top to Bottom which has a lot of marine stuff and will help you ship stuff in via DHL. They also have cheap movies on dvd.

Then come Two Turtles which is the other place besides Eddies Edgewater (on the other side of the lake) that the locals hang out. They have a cool tiki bar and a big movie screen against the building wall to play sports.

Across from Two Turtles is a straw market with lots of home made gifts

Then comes the quaint library. For $3 per couple you can rent books here and the selection is pretty good. The only downside is that they are only open Mon-Fri 10-12

We saw this guy with a cage full of land crabs. They were bulky and green and very creepy looking compared to our Maryland Blue Crabs

Another great place was Pets Place which offers internet and food and usually had baked goods for us to snack on

A walk down the one way street

Theres our boat from the view on top of that narrow bridge

Down the street the other way from the dinghy dock is J&K which sells computer stuff and some groceries but most importantly frozen juice treats for 30 cents which we loved and got almost everyday on shore

Here is our view of the other side of the harbor, Stocking Island

We have left George Town and are making our way back up the Exumas chain, blog to come.

Good Bye George Town, Heading Back North

2011-05-31T15:32:00.000-04:00

Well we have been here in George Town for just over 6 weeks. We have made this our temporary home and are quite comfortable. We haven't been too adventurous lately but we are enjoying ourselves.

We still read a lot. Christine even wrote a 42,000 word book herself and is working on her second book. I have been practicing the guitar everyday and play Star Craft 2, an online video game at night.

For exercise we have been swimming laps around the boat. I can't do many but Christine usually does about 25-30 while I lay out on the pink floaty :)

Our nightly routine has been to go to shore and plug in at a picnic table at the local play ground and play online till 2 am. We our really gonna miss this view.

We finally had our first engine problem in the Bahamas. In preparation of our departure, I changed our primary fuel filter, secondary fuel filter, oil filter, and both oils. Of course after this the engine wouldn't start. I thought it was a battery problem since our batteries are dead. So we charged up the starter battery with the solar panels and it still wouldn't work. Luckily while we were at the park another cruiser asked to use our computer and we got to talking about the engine and he offered to come check it out.

He was a cool Frenchmen named Franswa (sorry if its misspelled) aboard French Summer and after an hour of trying we finally got the engine up and running. In the process we learned how to use the compression levers, ether starting fluid, and to bleed the fuel injectors. That's the only good thing about a troublesome engine is we always learn something. It is rarely the same problem twice.

And as a result of this we had our FIRST boat dinner guest! We invited Franswa over for spaghetti and garlic bread and he brought over a cheese and bread platter that was much better than the main dish. He has a fridge and water maker so her even brought over cold water! Yes that is a luxury on Bright Eyes.

We ate and talked into the night and were glad to finally host someone. It also gave us a reason to clean up the cockpit some which it needed.

Lastly we'ed like to warn anyone against the use of the Bahamas Post Office. Before we got here in early April my mom sent us an underwater camera via the Post Office. Some people warned us that it could take 3 months to get here and I didn't believe them. Well it's been almost 2 months and we can't wait around any longer so hopefully they will return to sender.

We did have success with Christine's e-reader which was sent through DHL to Top to Bottom (a marina store). It arrived in 5 days.

So we will just buy a disposable underwater camera in Staniel Cay to take Thunderball Grotto pics.

Sorry for the lack of pictures. We haven't done anything too impressive recently. Here's a cool cloud we saw :)

But it is time to finally start heading back north towards the US. We plan to spend June revisiting the Exumas. Then we will meet my mom in Eleuthera in July. Then we will visit the Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama Island on our way back to Florida In August. So there is still plenty of exploring to do and we are going to try to put our kayaks to use more!

Stocking Island has a lot of Beaches

2011-05-19T15:46:00.000-04:00

So we finally left George Town...only to hop across the harbor and spend some time at Stocking Island.

Stocking Island was THE social spot for the last few months but most of the cruisers have headed either north or south after the regatta. Which leaves it open for us to explore.

When we first came into Elizabeth Harbor we noticed a monument atop of a large hill. Our quest was to get up there and check out the view.

But first lets relax some more...

We anchored at Monument Beach the closest we've even been to the beach, about a 30 foot swim to shallow water!

Hamburger Beach... Guess what we ordered?

And we added our name to the many cruisers before us.

Next we visited Volleyball Beach to see the famous Chat n Chill

Our home isn't so far away.

We saw a sting ray swimming around the shallow beach. Someone told us it was actually a manta ray and that people feed it hamburgers. So I decided now was the time to get over our fear of rays and treaded out there saying "come here big fella"

It swam right up to me and then turned but I was able to pet it a few times. It was a lot slimier than I thought it would be but still really cool.

We are 00 miles to Paradise the signs says.

Chat n Chill is where a lot of the cruisers would play volleyball but there were no games going on today, just an expensive pig roast

Nala is better at relaxing than we are

It was now time for the mountain climb. The first day we got lost through several "paths" and had to turn around and get directions at the Hamburger joint. Once we knew how to get there it wasn't so bad, about ten minutes of steep hiking.

One portion even had a rope to help you climb up.

But boy was the view from the top worth it!

Our boat is the furthest left closest to the beach.

We don't know the point of this thing but there was a bench that couples carved their names into that got engaged up there.

Next we found another trail that was like a safari and came out onto the other side of the island.

We were rewarded with a beautiful beach

In regards to the last blog our house batteries are officially dead but two of them will at least let us use the inverter through them during the day. It's kinda funny because we only get power if the sun is direct so as we feel a cloud go over the inverter beeps and we have to turn things off. But then the suns returns a minute later and we have power again. We do this routine several times a day if trying to charge the laptops.

Unrelated since we gave up on the coffee maker awhile ago but Christine now makes coffee by tying a rubber band around a coffee filter over a cup and just slowly pours boiling water in there until she has a cup. It takes awhile but gets the job done!

Luckily there is enough power somehow to turn on led lights and half powered fans at night.

In other news I finally cut off the goldilocks to Christine's dismay.

Before

After

but we left a blond tipped rat tail for fun :)

See Christine in the glasses?

We did not have any internet at Stocking Island so after a week we came back to George Town! We will stay here till the end of May and then really be leaving as we head back north...

Boat Work and Out of Power

2011-05-11T17:29:00.000-04:00

We have been pretty lucky so far keeping our repairs to a minimum. Mostly we clean after the cats (litter and lots of cat hair). We tighten up loose bolts and wires as we find them. Dishes and general cleaning wrap up our boat work.

However during the week of the regatta it rained a lot and our house batteries suffered never getting a full days charge. Since then our battery monitor showed 10.5 volts at night and 12.0 volts during the day under full sun light. That is not good. We couldn't plug anything in like charging our laptops and most electronics wouldn't run except for our led cabin lights.

I decided to test each battery by hooking them up to the solar panels and battery monitor alone for a day and see if it could charge up. Two of the battery never showed more than 11.5 volts even under the full sun power so I guess they are dead. One battery would range from 11 volts at night and 14.1 volts during the day. The last battery ranged from 9 volts at night to 14.1 volts during the day. But even those two batteries would not hold the charge at night.

During this time we have been trying out different spots around town that we can pick up wifi and power. It's not the wifi that we need so much but the power. We don't use too much electricity on the boat so we've been ok with just using some light at night, however Christine is craving music.

It is quite expensive to replace our battery bank here so we are hoping our new plan will work. We will use the electricity during the day that the solar panels provide and then only use lights at night. So basically using the two house batteries we have as a funnel for electricity even though they can never hold it. Luckily it's sunny most days.

Also lucky is that we keep our small starter battery on a separate switch so it has been unaffected by all this and we can still start the boat!

The other major project I have to do is scrubbing the barnacles and growth of the bottom of the boat which can be tough in a choppy current. Also restitching a lot of our canvas. Those cats can be a menace sometimes, but at least it will keep me busy.

Sorry for no pictures as this was quite a lame/boring blog, but we thought if we can tell the good side of cruising we can tell the bad as well. And everyone knows what a 12volt battery looks like...

Our Stay At Sandals Emerald Bay

2011-05-06T15:21:00.000-04:00

Sometimes you just get lucky.

While walking around the George Town Regatta we stopped at a Sandals Emerald Bay booth. Sandals just opened this location a year ago and was providing a station for their guests visiting the Regatta.

Christine just happened to be wearing the sandals necklace that Sandals gave us for returning the 2nd time and being Sandals Select members. (We honeymooned there in 2008 and vacationed there in 2009 which is what inspired this whole adventure from the beginning)

We talked to the lady running the booth who was a Sandals manager and she noticed Christine's necklace. She said we were family and needed to come home, that we should come by and she'd let us in. Our faces lit up and we said we definitely would!

So after the Regatta was over, on Monday, we cabbed it to Sandals Emerald Bay!

Here's a view of Sandals from a hill that the cab driver showed us.

We arrived on location bright and early at 8:30am.

All Sandals seem to have island cats. I'd live here too if I was a cat.

We immediately went to the breakfast buffet and dived into all the foods we had been dreaming about since we left Maryland. Sandals is Heaven!

The rest of the day was spent relaxing, eating, drinking, exploring and having fun. It was nice to swim in fresh water and to order food without price tags.

Here's the view of the hill the cab driver took us to from the bottom

We felt only slightly out of place since most couples there were staying for the week. And as we met people the first questions asked are where and you from and how long are you staying? Christine and I would look at each other and slowly bumble into how we are actually living on a boat down the water and are just staying the day.

The couples were always surprised and began asking questions which we got pretty good at answering. One of the Sandals excursions was to visit Thunderball Grotto and the Pigs so we told everyone to go see them.

After five more meals and a beach party we didn't want to leave. So we decided we would just drink at the bar till the 2am close and figure out the sleeping thing later, maybe pull an all nighter. We ended up meeting a really nice couple our age from Indiana on their honeymoon, Nate and Casey, and drank with them all night till the bar closed. Then they brought down their room drinks and we had a late night pool party.

When it came time to say goodnight they invited us to spend the night in their living room. We felt bad intruding but they insisted and it at least solved our sleeping dilemma. Our sleeping quarters were separate from theirs and we moved to the pool at the crack of dawn but that was really swell of them!

Needless to say we missed breakfast but got two lunches before finally calling the cab to take us home. The manager who invited us saw us the next morning and we were a little embarrassed extending our stay but she didn't mind. Christine just told her we had so much fun that we missed our ride last night.

Here is our annual leaving Sandals waiting in the lobby pic.

If you have never been to Sandals we recommend you go to their website and book a vacation right now! It is the greatest place on earth!!! All inclusive. Buffets for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Fine Dining, all cuisines. Pools, hot tubs, the beach, excursions. Normal bars and pool bars. And they treat you like royalty. Just show up and have as much fun as possible!

We love Sandals!

Our End Destination: George Town

2011-04-30T14:33:00.002-04:00

We arrived in George Town a week before the Bahamas Family Island Regatta which gave us time to get used to the busy city.

George Town is the destination of a lot of seasonal cruisers. They all know each other and come back year after year. The local dinghy dock is basically a parking lot.

We also met up with a lot of cruisers we have met along our journey. Joseph and Ruth and their dog Kiwi were familiar faces. We first met Joseph when we ran aground together outside of Fernandina Beach, FL. We then saw him again in Miami, Nassau, and Staniel Cay. Kiwi and Nala finally got to meet as well.

We finally met up with another blogger Matt and Kristie aboard Kaleo, http://www.svkaleo.com/

We got to see our cruising expert friends George and Janice aboard Calamus. And we saw Celtic Rover who we got snowed in with back in North Carolina! It was a fun reunion to enjoy the wonderful town with fellow cruisers. We also made some new friends Art and Brenda aboard Zippidy Doo Daa, and Shawn aboard Manna. Shawn hailed looking for guitar strings which I had extra of and he gave me an electric tuner in exchange!

We have a reasonably priced grocery store here. New shops and restaurants to hang out at and we do plenty of relaxing. We have been reading almost full time. Christine must have passed the 100 book mark since we left and I just finished the whole bible. Sadly Christine's Nook broke so she has to have a cheapo version sent here. Cheapo version because import duty is 40%.

We love finding small empty beaches to call our own.

George Town island cat

We learned a new form of music, Rake n Scrape! It involves using a broom with a string attached as the bass and a saw to make the scraping noise. They get down!

The regatta was a big festival and everyone was partying!

We got to try essential island dishes like Sheep Tongue Souse (soup)

But the most important part of the regatta was the races! They have three classes, C (17ft), B (21ft), and A (28ft). The A class boats win a big prize and are eternalized among the greats. This is the 58th annual regatta. Some boats have won multiply years and are fan favorites.

We walked down to the docks and met with a C class skipper. Mr Moxey here just built this boat (Revelation 3:19) and was racing it for the first time. We cheered for him out there but he came in last :(

We could see the races from our boat and at some points the boats would sail through our anchorage, right by our boat! During the course the boats have to tack upwind, then sail fast across the wind, and lastly sail down wind. They do three laps. Some of the races were boring because one boat took a quick lead and held it, while other races were really exciting with boats passing each other, colliding, and even some fighting photo finishes at the end.

Although we could see the races from our boat we liked to watch them from the local "wall" which was where all the locals watched and it got real wild with shouting and cheering. There were 13 races including a kids race.

My favorite and a local favorite was Red Stripe. They won the first race and third in the second race. The third race tonight will decide the over all winner. GO Red Stripe!

Update: Tida Wave won the 2nd and 3rd races and took the overall crown for a record 15 times over 58 years. That is one fast boat!

Heres Red Stripe, maybe next year.

Today is the last day of the regatta and we are gonna watch some local competitions including onion peeling, conch cracking and greasy pole climbing!

The finale was a high school marching band and then the Police Force marching band. They were both very good and entertaining

Staniel Cay and the Big Major Pigs

2011-04-18T17:37:00.004-04:00

We loved Staniel Cay!

Our anchorage was calm. We arrived to a FULL rainbow from Club Thunderball to the Staniel Cay Yacht Club

The town was very pretty with a few restaurants and grocery stores.

The lady in the yellow house sells fresh bread. The pink and blue houses were small grocery stores.

We even found a tennis court to get some fun exercise.

And then the moment we had been waiting for.... The Big Majors Pigs!

We loved these fat ole wild pigs, especially the baby pig. When we dingied close to shore they swam out to us and we threw them bread. Then we went ashore and fed the baby pig. When we ran out of food it started squealing like a big baby, we felt bad. Then it would follow us around. When we pet him he would roll over on his side, very cute for a pig.

The three other adult pigs were SO fat. We heard that they would try to get in our dinghy so we kept an eye on the one fatty that was standing next to our dinghy the whole time. He would sink that inflatable so fast. Luckily he just observed.

We claimed an empty beach and had fun exploring.

We went to the infamous Thunderball Grotto from the James Bond movie Thunderball. Unfortunately our underwater camera broke so we will have to take pics on the way back. We definitely want to spend more time here on our way home.

It was really neat and we were surrounded by colorful fish. Once we swam under the rocks it opens up into a beautiful cave with the sunlight shining through. From there we fed the fish old bread and watched the frenzy. We will get pics next time.

We left Friday and anchored by Normans Pond Cay and then Saturday we arrived at George Town. Turns out the Reggata is next week from the 26th - 30th. So we made it to our ultimate destination goal and will continue to enjoy the scenery :)

The Exumas: Allen's Cay Iguanas and Boo Boo Hill

2011-04-09T18:07:00.002-04:00

The Exumas are supposed to be the most scenic of all the Bahamas. They are not disappointing!

Our first stop was Allen's Cay which has wild endangered iguanas. As soon as we beached our dinghy they came out like zombies and surrounded us. They looked pretty friendly though so we played with them for awhile. You aren't supposed to feed them but we found a piece of fruit on the ground so we figured that was okay. You could tell they were used to getting fed cuz they all came out and had fun eating the fruit we smashed up. They even ate some out of Christines hand.

Our next stop was Normans Cay. They were supposed to have internet and cheese burgers which we were excited about. Sadly their internet wasn't working and the cheeseburgers cost $18 each! We don't have a fridge on board and can't catch fish or lobster so when everything you eat is out of a box or can, a burger is the world. They were not worth $18 though and we left unsatisfied. We explored some and then decided to move on.

I was able to dive down and see our anchor nice and snug

We took a short trip down to Shroud Cay where we heard a lot of good things about. This Cay had more beautiful water and secluded beaches. We inflated our kayaks for the first time and did some exploring by water. We even saw our first shark! It was about 2-3 feet long, maybe a reef shark or nurse shark? It wasn't that scary since we were in our kayaks and I was hoping to see more.

We tried to kayak up a river we were told about that lead to a nice beach but the wind was in our face and it was low tide so we had to drag our kayaks across land, so we turned around. Anyone else who tries this river should go at high tide.

The next day we continued south to Warderick Wells Cay. Our goals were Boo Boo Hill and internet. We were let down again when the park lady told us that the internet was only for mooring ball holders. That would be $15 plus $10 for one day or 100mb of internet. We had a lot to do online so we would each need our own account, so we passed on the $35 for one day of internet. We were getting nervous now though knowing that it had been 12 days since we talked to anyone and family worries.

A whale skeleton!

We did succede with our other goal of Boo Boo Hill though. This infamous hill of the Bahamas used to be covered in water and was a shoal a long time ago. An unlucky ship wrecked here and everyone died. The legends of their ghost resulted in the name Boo Boo Hill.

Now a days all passing cruisers stop by to pay homage by writing their name on a piece of driftwood and adding it to the pile.

The view is also spectacular from the top and we could see our boat anchored. It's too tiny to see but it's in this pic.

Some cruisers get real fancy with their name but all we had was a bottle of spray paint so we did our best. The four sides of this log say "SV" "Bright" "Eyes" "4/11"

Eager to continue on to Staniel Cay, the George Town Regatta, and some internet, we left the next day. Anything we miss now we can always visit on the return trip.

We are currently anchored in Staniel Cay next to the famous Thunderball Grotto! We were lucky enough to get internet from our boat but at a price. $25 for three days, each. Crazy but I guess thats supply and demand. Plus we get 750mb each instead of 100 per day. Once we are done catching up with people and lame land life chores we will explore this wonderful island. We plan to stay here until we move to George Town for the Regatta on April 18th!

Rose Island is Awesome Island

2011-04-09T16:12:00.001-04:00

We are still here! Sorry but the internet has been unavailable since we left Nassau on March 27th. Hopefully you can see our SPOT progress to know we are OK!

We had some more fun in Nassau and even broke out some toys we had to keep us entertained

Nala celebrating St Patrick's Day

Christine is sprouting again

We set up this cheap dartboard we had.

Star Wars Monopoly!

Three or four huge cruise ships would come in almost every day in Nassau.

Beautiful Christine

I got an acoustic guitar from the pawn shop

A barge pulled up in front of Paradise Island next to us and gave a sweet fire works display. I think it was the closest we been to the launch pad and was a lil scary that flames wouldn't rain on our boat.

Potters Cay is a must visit in Nassau. It is two streets of packed in local food vendors. The record was 8 conch fritters for $2. Yum!

These catamarans full of people would always pass us and we would find out later where they were going...

Nala looking for pity

We got all our chores done in Nassau and finally bid it farewell. We decided to anchor outside of Nassau before heading to the Exumas the next day. However the anchorage was rocky so we moved a little further north to Rose Island and stumbled upon the best beach yet!

The water was the clearest we've seen and we were able to anchor so close to the beach that we could jump off the boat and swim to the beach. We finally got over our fear of swimming in the water because this is where those catamarans full of people were! 50 plus people were swimming and snorkeling not far away. So we hoped in and had some fun in the water!

There were also plenty of palm trees and a trail to hike

We finally learned to snorkel and I got to use our spear. I need a lot of practice though. I hit a few fish but they just spun around and then swam away. Then I saw a decent sized sting ray below me and got out of the water. I think the fish went and got a body guard.

We used our metal detector with no luck.

This island a mile away looked so perfect but when we dinghyed to it it had a sign saying private and to call about renting it. We want to buy it!

We explored the island and loved Rose Island so much that we stayed there a whole week. Our dream location finally arrived.

On Sunday April 3rd we decided to move on to the Exumas because we heard there is a Cruisers Regatta in George Town in April that we don't want to miss.

Playing Tourist in Nassau

2011-03-18T18:57:00.001-04:00

After going ten days without any human interaction (except for the Berry Island Club bartender). We decided to head back to civilization, Nassau, The Capital of the Bahamas!

The winds were pretty good and we finally got to sail without the engine and make progress! It was a nice silence except for the waves. This was our third ocean crossing so the big waves didn't scare us. Neither did the 10,000 feet depths we were crossing!

Come sail with us

We cleared into the Nassau harbor and found a nice anchorage directly in front of Atlantis! We walked around downtown Nassau and found another Lovers Lane.

We don't have internet from the boat but the free dinghy dock at The Green Parrot has internet so we either just sit on the dock for internet or go in and order a blooming onion!

We walked across the bridge to Paradise Island. The bridge was really steep but the walk was worth it.

We walked into some resort (Dolphins Cove) and could go to their beach if we wanted to but we were hungry so we tried to eat at their restaurant. Apparently you need a room to eat there so i just made one up but the lady didn't buy it and we had to "go back to our room to get it".

Luckily Atlantis allows day visitors and we could walk around that huge resort.

and Casino!

I really wanted to see their famous aquarium so we coughed up the $38/person fee and got to see all of our sea nightmares come to life!

Nassau has been pretty cool so far. Our anchorage is a lil crowded but the boat doesn't rock constantly so thats plus. Party boats go by pretty often but we just enjoy their tunes. We go into town for $3 for 10 conch fritters or just to walk around and get internet. Lately we have been waking up at noon, staying in bed till 3 or 4pm and then hanging out all night.

But just like Miami we will get our people fix, make our boat repairs, buy some fresh food and move on soon.

The main things we need are fuel and The Exumas Explorer Charts.

Peace at last, Fraisers Hog Cay

2011-03-14T20:29:00.000-04:00

After four days of rough waves and wind we finally found sanctuary at Fraisers Hog Cay. We wanted to lobster hunt at Chub Cay but the waves were too choppy and I was ill from the boat motion, we left asap.

The storms here are so fast that sometimes they stop before we can even close all the hatches!

At Fraisers Hog Cay we had our own beach but it was really rocky. We found lots of big starfish tho.

We tried to eat at the Berry Islands Club but you have to give them two hours notice so they can run to the airport and get your ingredients. So we told them we wanted cheese burgers and would be back the next day.

We found a feisty hermit crab

We are still too afraid to get in the water so we use our underwater camera to take pictures.

Theres a starfish in the middle of this pic

Christine has broken out the sprouts again. mmmm Healthy

The Bahamas burn all their trash. We found one of their piles and added our trash.

We hiked the island to feel better about eating the cheese burgers

Sunday we moved onto Nassau, blog to come.

Why Are The Bahamas So Windy

2011-03-10T20:18:00.002-05:00

We are finally losing track of the days which is pretty fun. And we wear the same couple outfits, bathing suits.

So one of those days we moved down to Gun Cay.

We passed a really old shipwreck named Sapona

We anchored in Honeymoon Harbor and were able to get really close to the beach!

We explored the island

and found a lot of old shoes...

and plenty of conch! (side note: conch has upset my stomach and is on a temporary ban)

fun in the sand

Our personal postcard

Picnic on the beach. We were the only people on the island so it was a private beach picnic!

Before we left we found a great deal on cream of mushroom and tomato soup, 25cents a can, so we bought a ton of it! Then came the problem of how to use it. We can't make grilled cheeses and have limited french's fried onion for green bean casserole. Christine discovered if you mix the two it creates a delicious soup broth and then just add veggies of choice. Two birds, one stone.

We moved down to North Cat Cay but it was private so we couldn't go ashore. Lame.

That night the winds were out of control and we dragged for the first time ever. The anchor reset itself tho and then we watched the boats around us skeptically to make sure they kept their space. One boat got really close to us (about 20 feet) but right as I yelled to them they motored away. We didn't get too much sleep.

The next day since we couldn't go ashore we decide to keep moving and head toward the Berry Islands. To get there we had to cross the Great Bahama Banks which are about 86 miles long but only 10-15 feet deep. So the first day we just went about halfway and then pulled over and anchored. We made sure we anchored far enough off the channel so no other boats would hit us. It was still scary tho being completely surrounded by darkness. Plus the waves were bouncing us up and down till our davit hardware snapped. What was that about cruising just being a fancy word for fixing things in exotic locations...

Again, not much sleep.

Nomy finally got tired of being sick in the cabin while underway and now hangs with us in the cockpit. Nala was glad to have him.

The last 15 miles of the journey were across more Atlantic and we got to see the pretty deep blue water again.

We arrived at Chub Cay just before a squall came over us. The beach is private here too and it costs $100 to go to shore, wtf. However we can still use their Wi-Fi so ha!

The water is even clearer here but since George told us those wildlife horror stories we have been afraid to get in the water. Something we really need to get over. We have each been in the water once and all we can think about is SHARK SHARK SHARK!!!