Harmony in Marsh Harbour

We are at anchor in Marsh Harbour waiting for another front to come through. Here it is blowing 5 to 10. Outside the harbor it is 20 to 25.
Shelling at Tahati Beach.
Tahiti Beach on Elbow Cay.

Catamaran Harmony back in Great Guana

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We left Elbow Cay yesterday and had a slow sail, jib only, to Great Guana. The map is interactive so feel free to manipulate it.

Finally back again

Not a good beach for swimming but...

This is the trail of the shuttle shot as seen from Elbow Cay about 150 miles east of the launch. The bright cloud was produced when the first stage separated.

We haven't had internet for a while so it is time to recap. After hurting my back, took off anyway and went down to Cracker Ps on Lubbers Cay for lunch then over to Tilloo Bank for a dinner with Honeywind and Talley Ho on the beach. Next day was resting my back at anchor then on to Pete's Pub where there is also a foundry for brass, bronze and gold casting (but his gold had been stolen a few weeks ago). Rum is really good for my back! It still hurts but who cares. Anyway, back to Elbow Cay and Sea Spray marina to wait out the first of two front's coming close together. Rain all day yesterday and some more expected today. All just a part of boating.

You can look up all these places on Google Earth.

Seaspray Resort at Elbow Cay

Cold Front - what it means …

First there are a couple of days of clear skies and sunny weather. The sunlit ocean glitters like turquoise fabric. It feels like it's going to be lovely forever. Then the winds begin to kick up. Sand gets into your eyes and teeth if you walk the beach. The palm trees, instead of being full and round on top all make fans far to one side. The gentle rustling of their fronds takes on a more frantic sound. The boat creaks on her lines and we check for chafing before we go to bed. The east wind has picked up from about 20 knots to 40 and has clocked around to the south and west. Along the horizon, lightening punctuates the starry night. Half asleep, we check the lines again, hoping none of the dozen ropes that tie us securely to the dock will let go. Maybe it is the rain coming through the hatch over the bed that wakes us and we make a circuit inside the boat, closing anything that is open and putting towels under the old hatches that leak.
Daylight comes. The sky has turned gray with occasional patches of blue. The front is passing but it drags behind it the cold. The temperature has dropped about 20 degrees. Yesterday's sleeveless t-shirt is traded for long sleeves with a sweatshirt over that. Only Lew still wears shorts, Florrie is back in blue jeans. Today is for staying snug and warm inside, at least until the front passes and the post card weather returns.

Only yesterday we walked the beach under the cliffs and found many of nature's treasures. Limpets almost as big as the palm of your hand chew their way into the rugged limestone rocks. The surprise was that limpets have "feet", hundreds of them, making a fringe like a feather boa all around their single shell. Small gray crabs scurry along the rocks as the tide brings in new morsels to eat. Snails scatter all over the rocks and in the tide pools, looking like marbles from a distance.

Most of the rocks are jagged and treacherous. No boater wants to run aground on that. Over the decades and centuries, the tides wear the rocks into washboard-like ripples. One area of the beach has been worn down into that kind of hard pan which is also treacherous because it is so slippery. The tide washes around the rocks, making pools that flow back and forth with the current. Bubbly seaweed with little leaves breaks off from somewhere in the deep and floats in the shallows. Sunlight glitters on the droplets of water carried by the weeds, making tiny prisms that focus brilliant "stars" on the sandy bottom. The small ripples of the current make a pattern of light like the texture of the eroded hardpan. Everywhere there is a soft pink cast to the sand, evidence of the crushed red coral that the relentless waves bring to the shore.
 

Elbow Cay, Abacos
Sea Spray Marina
Hello from Harmony
We are now at a new marina and might be able to put an update on the blog. Everything changes with location and the weather. However, if we pay extra for it, we might get the internet now and then.
We left Marsh Harbour about 10 AM Friday morning and had a lovely but slow sail down the Sea of Abaco. We took a little side trip, motoring into Man O War Cay, just to see that lovely harbor. It is considered the least changed of the islands or cays around here. It was well worth the visit. Instead of the hustle and bustle of "city" life in Marsh Harbour, everything seemed so peaceful and simple.
Then we put the jib back up and sailed to Sea Spray Marina in White Sound on Elbow Cay, which is the next island east of our old dock, only five miles as the crow flies. However it took us four hours to get here because we were doing only two knots and had to go around the point that protects Marsh Harbour from the east. Coming in at low tide was fine but Florrie was nervous because the depth was only six inches under the keel. She'd prefer at least three feet of water. Getting our 21.5 foot wide boat into the slip that is only about four inches wider was another minor adventure but we did really well. No bumps or scrapes. Amazing.
What a spectacular place this is. We're in a very protected harbor, waiting out the next cold front that is supposed to be a doozie. But for now all is calm and gorgeous. The sky is clear, the air crisp and we hear the constant roar of the Atlantic Ocean about 200 yards away - on the other side of the cliffs. Yesterday afternoon we went to the top of the cliff and marveled at the crashing waves. It is a dramatic scene that Florrie hopes to capture in paint before we leave.
Today we've had a chance to do a little exploring. There was a fund raiser for the Volunteer Fire Department in Hope Town. That's a town filled with colorful homes. The architecture is similar to Cape Cod but without all the gray. Imagine such houses in soft pastels with contrasting trim. The yards are full of bouganvilla and other brilliant flowering shrubs. We watched as a hummingbird kept chasing large butterflies off of "her" flowers. Of course there were a few curly tail lizards scurrying out of our way.

Our "plan" to go to the Exumas changed with the weather. There are just too many cold fronts coming through every few days to be able to make the four day trip comfortably. There are harbors along the way to spend the night but not any we'd want to have to hole up in as different fronts come through. This has been the coldest winter in the Bahamas, we hear from those who come every year. That's too bad because we would have liked to see friends in Staniel Cay. Maybe next year. Being here is not really a hardship though. Tahiti Beach is a reasonable walk to our south. Delightful Hope Town is a short golf cart ride to the north. The restaurant here is well recommended. The marina is well run by very accommodating people so how

Lew
S/V Harmony
http://CatamaranHarmony.blogspot.com

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FW: Marsh Harbour

We're finally on the move south.  We left Treasure Cay dock yesterday about 8:30 Am and were here at HarborView Marina by noon.  We even got to SAIL - what a concept.  Of course the wind was from the wrong direction so we were heading for Great Guana Cay... Finally we took down the jib and motored west to this marina but it was really nice for a couple of hours.
 
Lew and Emery McGraw have decided that Em will help Lew get the boat home startin April 18 or so.  The McGraws are leaving Honeywind here for the summer season.  The guys will both enjoy the trip I'm sure.  Em will help get the boat as far up the ICW or coast as possible then fly to Canada by April 30.  We may need some help after that.
 
I will fly home the end of April.  Earlier, Patty will fly from Nassau to Canada so she doesn't have to go through customs and immigration twice.  Makes sense to me.  That is all a long way off but it is good to have it figured out.  For now we're just enjoying sometimes crummy weather in one of the most beautifuul places on earth.
 
We're 12 miles south of our last marina.  Harbourview Marina is where we spent the first part of my trip last winter.  It is so much calmer now - no Christmas hubub.  We'll be here for a week.  It is hard to get emails because to get them on the boat is an extra expense.  (no cable either but we do have electricity which is lovely.)  So we wait until the office is open and their emails are up and running to do this.  
 
We are in "Paradise" but every time the weather changes or we change marinas, all the simple things like emails and showers have to be done in a new way!  It keeps us on our toes, literally!  Tee Hee.  Someday we might actually get a photo of the ordeal of getting off the boat when it is low tide.  Lew's legs are longer than mine so he can navigate the dock and its ladder a lot easier than I.  So far I haven't fallen in.  So far!  :-)

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Catamaran Harmony Reacher

The "Jamacan Afterburner", a lightweight reaching sail.

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curly tails

Now that the winds have died and the clouds have gone, the lizards are sunning themselves everywhere!  They are as small as your little finger up to sizes that would fit from finger tip to wrist, with some tail left over.  As far as I know, the Bahama Islands are the only place that has this kind of lizards.

FISH! on S/V Harmony

On Saturday our charter boat dock neighbor, "Low Profile", went out fishing.  They came back with such a haul there were critters all over the dock.  Because their customers could not take everything home in their suitcases, we were given our first fresh-caught fish of the season, already filleted.  Thank you fishing guys!
 
Sunday evening we invited Honeywind over for one of the most superb dinners Florrie has ever cooked.   The pointy nosed fish are Wahoo - very nasty teeth on those.  The snubbed nosed, colorful fish are Mahi Mahi, also known as Dorado or Dolphin.  Clearly they are not related to the mammal "Flipper".  The chubby little fish is a Tuna, the only one they caught so we didn't get any of that. 

For you recipe lovers here is how four of the fillets were prepared:  In a 9x9" glass dish; less than a cup of light olive oil, the juice of one lemon, 4 crushed cloves of garlic, 2 Tbsp of thyme and salt & pepper.  Marinate the fillets for 2 - 3 hours.  Saute in 2-3 Tbsp butter in a large skillet, using some of the marinade if needed.  The trick was to time the fillets because they were of different sizes.  Served with curried rice and waldorf salad.  Oreos for dessert.
 
This recipe would work for any fairly dense meat fish like swordfish, maybe even salmon steaks.
 
 

Treasure Cay Tree Trimming

Palm Tree Trimming
Along the dock the coconut palms are at least 40 - 50 feet tall. The marina yard crew wheeled a large wheel barrow and brought a very long ladder for this project. However, only one man climbed the ladder then shinnied up the rest of the tree trunk, with a machete, to trim off the lower fronds. When he chopped off the clusters of coconuts they hit the ground like cannon shot. Then he carefully tossed his machete to the ground and came down. It took about 20 minutes to trim each tree and cart the debris to a pile for pick up.

Green Trutle Mini Vacation

Green Turtle Cay
On Wednesday morning we took a taxi to the Treasure Cay Ferry over to Green Turtle Cay where Loyalist settlers arrived around the time of the Civil War. New Plymouth is a typical Bahamian town, well worth the cold, choppy, windy half-hour ferry ride. Here's a mini-vacation for you. The pictures include the colorful houses as well as sculptures of a couple of the settlers' family members. Our ferry came at 3 PM to take us back to "the mainland".

Florrie &
Lew

Marine shipping traffic

This site lets you trace shipping in many areas of the world.
http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?level0=100

What a difference a year makes.

What was Hell in 2008, punctuated with occasional moments of serenity, is this year purring contentment. The learning curve of last year was as steep as a rocket launch and just as scary for a first timer. Even new skill or task was learned under the fire of crisis. Harmony’s "efficiently designed" interior became claustrophobic during the foul weather that kept us stuck in one place a lot longer than we had expected. Boat problems and getting used to a galley the size of a shoebox presented Lew and I with challenges neither could have anticipated. Most days began with him crawling out of the engine room, swearing. I did my share of cursing as I developed new ways to cook, clean, do dishes and any number of annoying domestic chores, often while the boat was rocking on anchor. We discovered new areas of our personal communication as we dealt with the tensions that seemed a cruel cosmic joke. We completely understood why the first year is named the "break down and break up year."

This year we chose to stay on the dock of Treasure Cay Marina for the first month here in the Bahamas. What a difference! When the days turn too windy for travel, we don’t care. We take advantage of the good days by going to the beach or walking into the tiny town. We can go to the library if we want to - or the post office - or just hang out under some palm tree somewhere and read or draw or even paint. We have the learning curve behind us. Life has settled into an unusual but workable routine.

Our two day excursion to Great Guana Cay for the BBQ was a lovely experience. We even managed to SAIL back to this "home" dock! What a concept. It seems that Lew and I made a very good decision to come here again this year. We are away from the bitter cold of the States. There aren't many birds and we haven’t gotten around to snorkeling yet but the curly tail lizards entertain us whenever we go for a walk. We are surrounded by the most beautiful colors in the world. The lagoons here and the Sea of Abaco change from deep blue in early morning to green and then turquoise by mid-day. It is pure Heaven.
This seems to be what every "snow bird" could hope for. May you find your Paradise someday.

FW: Bahamas

Just checking in to see what is the news. We are in Treasure Cay, having just gotten back from Great Guano Cay. Look them up in Google earth. Anyway thought you would like to see some pictures.

Island hopping

Sunset at Great Guano Cay
Nippers. Sundays are pig roast day.

Jamaican afterburner on our sail from Treasure Cay to Great Guano. We are back at Treasure now after another delightful sail.

Florrie and Lew are cold in the Bahamas

I know. I know. It is much colder where you are but, you might like to know it gets cold in paradise too. Florrie is reading a book, in bed as we run the generator to run the heater. We haven't moved...still in Treasure Cay.

Lake worth to Treasure Cay on Catamaran Harmony

We left Lake Worth at 6:00 AM on Sunday and motor sailed to Memory Rock where we entered the Bahama Banks just north of West End in the northern Bahamas. Then we did an overnight across the banks seeing no other boats and no navigation lights...all by GPS. We got to Green Turtle Cay about 7 AM and it was not light yet so we pushed on to Treasure Cay where we will stay for awhile. Not much here but one of the 10 best beaches in the world according to National Geographic and a beach bar. Oh well, someone has to do it. When we pulled in this morning, our friends Emery and Pat from Honeywind met us at the dock. Checked in with customs at the airport ($50 cab ride) and now it is time for a nap.
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Riviera Beach Marina

Riviera has uped its prices 150 per cent for catamarans dispite being put on a cement wall with no ladder. Only doubled for monohulls. No increase in services.

Sail plan

We are off the dock and anchored in preparation for a 6AM departure tomorrow which should get us to Memory Rock by 4PM and straight across the banks to Green Turtle Cay about 10AM on Monday. Wish us luck.
When we get to the Bahamas, we will have to look for internet connections and will not have any phone service. Best way to contact is still the web but it may take a few days.

Lake Worth aka West Palm Beach

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRO !!

Here we are after a very nice day of coastal cruising (motor and jib) down the coast of Florida. We left Ft. Pierce about 10 AM and went out into the ocean to avoid 7 opening bridges. Pulled into Lake Worth just as the sun was setting so there was light to anchor. Of course, the anchor alarm went off when the tide changed and the wind swung around and we dragged a little. it was not enough to have to do the deck dance and reset and the anchorage is not very crowded.

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Catamaran Harmony in Fort Pierce

Here we are on the hard getting ready to go south again. We now have a clean hull, a new washdown system, Florrie's artwork hung up, supplies, alcohol and new zincs. Other than that we have just been hanging out and enjoying the non existence of socks although it has been chilly at night. We found Marine Connection, a huge warehouse of new and used boat "stuff" which makes West Marine look like a Mom and Pop deli. Hopefully we will get the boat compounded and put in the water on Saturday.

X-MAS 2008

Dec 25th

Merry Christmas today and Happy Holidays for all this Season!

How can we describe such a lovely trip home? We're in the middle of three and a half weeks away from Florida and later the Bahamas, we hope. Winter has certainly given us a taste of all the reasons we want to be south for the winters. The other day it took 20 minutes for Florrie to scrape ice off her car before going shopping. We've had bitter cold, an ice-frozen Raritan Bay, snow, sleet and even some rain. One morning there was a soft snow fall that was photo-perfect seasonal weather. The visits with family and old friends have reminded us why we miss them all when we are gone for months at a time. One of many highlights was our trip to Baltimore to see granddaughter #2 in the Moscow Ballet's Nutcracker. That included lovely time with #1 granddaughter, Alexa, too.
The 25th was the day that granddaughter #3 came to visit, with her parents. What fun to see an almost 4 year old open presents. Stickers are the big thing this year.

We hope you all have had as much fun as we have. See you next year!