We're in the Exumas! (REVISED W/PICS!)

We're now at (you can't make this up) Norman's Cay (pronounced 'key'). Got the photo today of Norm next to the sign saying 'Welcome to Norman's Cay'. Today was our second beach day on white sand and crystal blue warm water. When we've been on vacation in such spots, we can remember saying, I could stay here forever.... and now we can. It's pretty spectacular. We've seen rays, starfish and, thankfully, no sharks. Vicki is hoping that her fear of sharks subsides. She took at 30-minute swim today - all within about 5 feet of shore!

Our first destination in the Exumas was Allen's Cay. We were at a wonderful anchorage and FINALLY got reconnected with our buddies Gypsies in the Palace and September Song. Immediately upon arrival, our buddies offered to Dink over to Tide Hiker and Rickshaw and take us on a tour of the surrounding islands so we would not have to take our Dinks down. Take a look at the Iguana's coming out of the bush on this close island. One was especially hungry. We're not supposed to feed them, so we did not. After the tour, we took a swim to cool down (sorry you snowbirds), to check the boat bottom and our anchor. Look at the anchor line--the water is "gin clean" and we can see the bottom for a long distance. This was followed by lasagna cooked by Colleen and wonderful other goodies prepared by Bob & Stephanie and Doug and Tammy--all aboard September Song. Wow, what a homecoming treat.

Next we went to Norman's Cay. We are in our third anchorage here due to winds. We have been trying to get alee of the winds and have finallly succeeded somewhat. The treat on this Cay is McDuffs Bar and Grille. They offer WiFi and that is how we are sending this blog. Mc Duff's is right next to an airstrip so they get many patrons from the air. It's a bit rustic--take a look athe the restroom facilities. Of course, we had to celebrate our arrival to Norman's which was about 10 miles from Allen's with a party. Gypsies did catch a Mahi Mahi along the route here and shared it with us all. And, we met Todd and Brenda aboard "Life's 2 Short". Todd had some fish in the freezer and also shared. Doug grilled up the fish and with all the other food brought by everyone--a feast!!

The next day we decided to picnic on the beach. So, we all headed to a small, desolate, white sandy beach not too far away. This time Vicki and Lynnie provided the entre's and everyone else brought something to pass. Another feast!! We are surely eating well on this cruise. But more importantly, we don't run out of laughs.

Norm is suffering a bit from a pulled muscle in his back and is on "good drugs", rest, heat pads and Kalik beer ( a Bahamian brew). He is improving daily. We went on a private time adventure and beached it. Here's Vicki looking at a starfish through the Lookie Bucket. What a nice day--just relaxing on the beach to let Norm's back heal. Paradise!!

Empty Cooler

Today's crossing from the Berry Islands to Nassau across the Tongue of the Ocean was smooth sailing. Rick and Norm each put out a fishing pole during the crossing in hopes of catching 'the big one' - actually the big one would be a problem to land, won't fit in the 98-quart fish cooler and would be a pain to filet-- so a 20-pound mahi-mahi would be nice. The big one may have struck Rick's rig (we're learning the cool fishing jargon). It took the whole lure right off the line. And these are no conservative lures -- they're about 6 inches long with yellow and green streamers reminiscent of bicycle handlebar streamers. What fish wouldn't want a morsel like that? The fishing dudes in Hog's Frazer Cay said the fish should be hitting those lures all day long. Maybe this was just the wrong day. Too bad, Norm was all ready with his new gaff, new net, new fish cooler, and ice in the freezer to ice down the fish until it got fileted. Next time.

We're at the Nassau Harbour Club marina where water is $8/day which is cheap in the Bahamas - no kidding. It's typically 20-40 cents/gallon. This is why we invested in a watermaker to make our own H2O onboard from ocean water - quick payback. Electricity is also out of sight in the Bahamas - up to $50/night or 65cents/kw. This is why we anchor out and use our own generator to make electricity. We paid the $8 here for water to wash the boat, but plan to run the generator for power instead of plugging in.

Norm just finished washing the boat and is going to take a stroll around the marina. Think I'll join him.

We Be On "Island Time" Mon

Tide Hiker crossed the Great Bahama Bank on Sunday, leaving Cat Cay at 0500 (that's 5:00 AM for you land lubbers or O-Dark-Hundred for you late night party-ers.) We witnessed a beautiful sunrise heading the pointy end of our boat East toward the Berry Islands. Eleven and 1/2 hours and 81 miles later we arrived Frazer's Hog Cay. We asked for a mooring ball at the Berry Islands Club. Herbie, the proprietor offered us dockage for the same price, ($15), since the depths at the mooring balls would not accommodate our boats. What a deal. Herbie also has a full service restaurant and small restaurant on the premises in addition to the marina. And, Herbie's aunt, Hilda, is the cook at the restaurant. She made us fantastic from-scratch Conch Fritters and Rum Punch on Sunday night. Needless to say, we were sacked out early after a long day.

The winds picked up on Monday to 25-30 mph, as expected, and we had to wait them out. These winds and high seas stayed with us for 3 more days. Fortunately, we had Herbie and Hilda to care for us. We took long walks on the back roads to distant beaches in search of the perfect conch shell. It is a custom to blow the conch shell, like a horn, at sunset each night putting the sun to sleep. But we need a perfect shell to make the horn. Hence our search. Also, Norm had time to build our Bahamian Lookie Bucket. It's a sheet of plexiglass glued into the bottom of a 5-gal pail. Works great!!

A couple fishermen from Key Largo were docked next to us. They were very successful each day and had an abundance of Mahi Mahi. Yes, they shared their spoils with everyone on the dock. We gave ours to Hilda and she rustled up a great Mahi-Mahi, veggies and mac and cheese dinner for us last night. Of course the wine and Gin/Tonics were also flowing pretty steady. The music was also good so dancing was on the event list.

Tonight we have been invited to go over to Legacy, another 44 DeFefever anchored close by. Ron and Pam Sweezey luckily cruised in here for a brief rest. They are heading West back to the states after being in the Bahamas since last Thanksgiving. It seems they have a new grandchild to meet--their first.

We Made It!

We're at Cat Cay Marina in the Bahamas! ... finally. It was a lovely sunny day crossing of 9 hours with 2-4 foot seas rolling us along. We saw the whale that we were supposed to see in Maine and saw the coolest flying fish. They're little guys about 6 inches that break the water and fly for 5-10 seconds, then dive in again. Very cool to watch. Tomorrow on to the Berry Islands.

Bahamas Bound

The stabilizers are fixed and we're crossing tomorrow (Saturday). Leaving Biscayne Bay at 6:00 a.m. Should be about a 9 hour trip. Wish us luck. We kissed sister Joyce goodbye today after a scrumptious lunch at a swank Indian restaurant. Did our last provisioning yesterday and today- Lynnie and Vicki walked 5 miles to different places to get various odds and ends - good exercise after being at anchor for a while. We'll update the blog when we have WIFI in the Bahamas - not sure how frequently that will be. It's an adventure! Yee-haa!

The Last Straw

After serious soul searching, we regret to inform you that we have decided to sell Tide Hiker. The maintenance is just too expensive and frustrating. This breakdown when we were starting to cross to the Bahamas was the last straw. We've been planning for the Bahamas and looking forward to the trip for so long - and WHAM! another breakdown. Our reservoir of resilience has been used up.


APRIL FOOL!!!! Come on -- we're not a couple of namby-pambies who quit when the going gets tough. We don't fold when the chips are down. We take the punch and come back swinging. (Enough bad analogies?) We're hearty midwesterners, remember?? We're in Coconut Grove at Dinner Key Marina to get Tide Hiker fixed up and then we're making tracks for the Bahamas. The stabilizer guy will be here tomorrow afternoon and it looks like there's a good weather window shaping up for this weekend, so we're crossing our fingers that it all comes together.

False Start

This morning at 7:00 we started crossing the Gulf Stream bound for the Bahamas and we were back at Key Biscayne by 10:00. Our crossings must be jinxed - no kidding. Remember the aborted crossing to Nova Scotia when the engine overheated? Nothing so dramatic this time. We lost stabilizer oil pressure, had to turn the stabilizers off and were rolling pretty uncomfortably in 3-4 foot swells. We decided to turn around, repair the stabilizers and try again another day.

We feel badly for Rick and Lynnie. They turned Rickshaw around and came back with us to wait again in Hurricane Harbor.

At the moment, Norm is waiting for the engine room to cool down from 100 degrees and then he'll figure out what the problem is and what we need to do about it. More news then.