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Sunsets and sunrises here in the Bahamas are quite something to behold and the sunset two nights ago was particularly beautiful .  It’s hard to say which moment was the best but this shot should give you an idea of what we saw.  To share an “adult beverage” in Pandora’s cockpit with Brenda while enjoying a view like this is a remarkable experience.

Last evening we also visited “Hamburger Beach” to listen to a jam session of cruiser musicians.   The musicians included the usual guitars a fiddle and some great vocals.  Of course, the repertoire tended toward the 60s and 70s, which tells you something about the age of the group that hangs out here in George Town.  For better or worse, Brenda and I fit in just fine but I am happy to say that we skew to the youngish side.  Yes, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.  It was fun to meet some new folks as well as see old friends again.  For me, one of the highlights was a massive bonfire on the beach.  It was fueled by a lot of driftwood and was a sight to behold.  I doubt that such a conflagration would be possible in the States with the constant fear of litigation there.  Not so in the Bahamas where “don’t worry, be happy” is the way they like it.

It looks like we will be here for a few more days as we are waiting for a good sailing day to head out to  Long Island.   However, the forecast isn’t clear with some complex weather patterns in the area.   Hopefully, the weather will be favorable for a run by the weekend.  The problem is the island is nearly due east from here which is directly into the prevailing winds so getting a fair wind is against the odds.

Today we went for a hike on Stocking Island, a picnic lunch on the top of Monument Hill, and a walk on the beach.  Brenda was a happy girl as we found lots of tiny shells. As this is such a popular area, there aren’t many big shells to be found but we found some great little ones that I expect she will make into jewelry.

The water colors were breathtaking today.  What a beautiful day to be on the beach.
We are going to talk to another couple who has a lot of cruising experience this evening about heading to the Jumentos, a remote chain of islands that we’d like to visit.

It seems like we have been in George Town FOR EVER, two weeks as of today.  I don’t believe that I have ever been anchored for two weeks in one place.

From the perspective of folks that spend the season here,  two weeks is about how much time it takes to get an anchor well set.   But, that’s from folks that anchor here for the entire winter.  Yikes!  It’s a nice place but we are about ready for a change of scenery.  Perhaps that’s because I am still coming from the New York perspective, home of the world famous “New York Minute” and two weeks is a lot of those.

Speaking of New York, a neighbor sent me this photo of our home in CT following the blizzard.   Perhaps this is old news to you northerners…I guess I prefer this view taken on the same day.    Yes, there’s a bit of white in this photo too, but a different sort of white.  Me, I prefer a warm white.So, when will we leave and head elsewhere?  Soon, I hope, as the blue horizon beckons.

It’s Monday afternoon and Brenda and I enjoyed a quiet day aboard Pandora.   Now that the boys have been gone for a few days, it seems that things are getting back into a pleasant rhythm.   We do miss them terribly but it’s nice to be rested again.
It’s been very windy so we have basically been boat bound for the last two days.  Happily, the heavy winds held off until after we delivered the boys ashore but it’s been screaming pretty good since then.   As you can imagine, sleeping hasn’t been that easy as we have been constantly listening to the wind in the rigging as she sails back and forth on her anchor.  Because of the twin head stays and mast set fairly far forward, Pandora isn’t docile at anchor and tends to be more restless as the wind picks up.
Happily, the sandy bottom and shallow depth makes it easier as there is only about a foot under her keel at low tide and that means that even if she moves around a bit, it’s not much given the very short scope on the anchor chain.  After years of dealing with double digit tides in Maine the 2-3′ tides here are a treat.  Also, we are getting pretty good at reading the water depth based on the color of the water.
Today, February 18th, marks the one month anniversary of our arrival in the Bahamas and I am happy to report that we are getting used to the warm weather.  (Yes, I know that you have been concerned that we’d never adjust to warm in February)  I can’t say that we are crazy about the often very strong winds but on balance, it’s a very pleasant place to spend time.   The good news is that after some three days of strong winds we will be treated to a good stretch, perhaps five or more days, of reasonable winds.   I guess that it’s better than snow and ice.   Let me think about that for a momentů  Yes, better.
It is our hope that we will be able to make a run out to Long Island or Conception, a 25-30 mile day sail, later in the week and have our fingers crossed that the weather and winds will cooperate.  Chris Parker suggested this morning that we might get a good sailing wind by the weekend.    I am hopeful that we will catch a mahi-mahi as they are great eating and common on the ocean passages.
This afternoon I was suffering from a bit of cabin fever (it doesn’t take long for me to develop an acute case, actually) so I took the dink out and went to the beach for a walk.  After a morning spent changing the oil on the main engine transmission and the oil in the generator, I needed a break.  I also have spent hours trying to hunt down a persistent fresh water leak on the pressure water system.  I can’t find it but know that there is a leak as the pump runs periodically, even if we aren’t using water.  It’s making me crazy that I can’t find it and frankly, I have exhausted about every option in trying to find the source.    I have torn up much of the floor, aft cabin and under the cockpit to no avail.
Oh well, I’ll just make more.  Did I say that I LOVED our water maker?   Yes, indeed.
When  I visited the beach today,  I brought the dink ashore in a nice little mangrove stand.

Perhaps I’ll close with a nice scene that greeted me as I walked across to the beach.

Yes, I like this “new normal” of winter in the Bahamas.  Pretty niceů

It’s hard to believe that the boys have come and gone.   After so many months of anticipation of Rob and Chris visiting with Kandice, the week is over and they have flown home.

This morning the alarm went off at 05:15 so that they could catch the cab to the airport at 06:00 and head to Nassau and their connecting flight to the states.  They planned to spend an extra day in Nassau and used some of their travel points to get a suite at the local Hilton.  I’ll bet that they will enjoy taking long showers.  It’s been a month since I have had the luxury of unending hot water for showering.  How nice that would be.

I have to say that having the “kids” with us for the last week was perhaps the best visit we have ever had with them.  Everyone got along well and I even kept myself out of trouble, mostly.   We were on the move constantly so I find myself a bit winded today but missing the constant activity as well.  While it’s nice to have things aboard Pandora back in order from the chaos of five adults sharing such a small space, I had to choke back my emotion this morning as I hugged each of them goodbye.  Funny, but the cab driver must have sensed my emotion as she said “don’t worry Dad, I’ll take good care of them” prior to motoring off into the dark.
Happily, the weather cooperated fully over the last week with moderate winds most of the time.  We had worried about strong winds getting in the way of fun but that didn’t happen.  Actually, while it was dead calm last night, today a cold front is coming through so by Sunday morning we will have winds perhaps in excess of 30kts.  That’s a lot of wind and I shudder at the thought of what it would have been like if we had to get them to shore in those conditions at o-dark-thirty this morning.

While we anchored near town last night we came back to the secluded anchorage a few miles from town where we had spent some time with the kids again today.  With the several days of strong winds forecasted, we wanted to be sure that we are protected from all directions.  If we are going to be boat-bound for several days, I want to be sure that we aren’t bouncing all around from wind and seas.  However, it seems that we are not the only ones to have thought of this idea as there has been a steady stream of boats coming into the harbor since yesterday afternoon. When we first arrived earlier in the week, we were nearly alone and now there must be two dozen boats here.  Happily, there is a large sandbar nearby cutting through the middle of the harbor, so the boats are quite spread out.   We’ll see if we anchored too close to the bar when the wind shifts direction as it clocks around in the next two days.    If so, we’ll find ourselves on the sand at low tide for a bit.  Fingers crossed.   The spot that I really wanted is now occupied by another boat took it the moment we pulled anchor yesterday.   Happily, there was another spot nearby, sort of, where we are anchored now.

As I mentioned in my last post, I used my Hawaiian Sling, a sort of spear, to catch my first fish the other day.  Rob and I went out and were able to spear two lion fish.  This species isn’t native to the western hemisphere as they are from  South-East Asia but are prized as a fish for home aquariums.  It seems that a shipment of these fish were released into the wild off of Florida, by mistake or on purpose, some years ago and have taken over much of the Bahamas and Caribbean.  This is very unfortunate as they are voracious eaters and are making a mess of the native reef fish population.  The good news is that they are very easy to spear and while their spines are venomous they are very good eating.  The two that Rob and I caught were a bit less than a foot long.

They look quite dramatic, that’s for sure.   Good thing that they are such good eating as that should make some progress in keeping the population in check.  With all those big fins, they don’t swim very fast, unlike most of the fish on the reefs.   Being very careful not to be stung by the fins while cleaning them,  I gutted them and prepared them for cooking.  Then I pan-fried up the filets with breadcrumbs and herbs.  They were terrific.  Brenda hasn’t quite come around to eating something that looks quite that aggressive as of yet.  However, I expect that she will end coming around if I am able to make a tempting enough dish.  Wish me luck.
Does this look like something you’d like to eat?  Looks can be deceiving though.   Trust me on that.

We were all fascinated by the conch salads and remaining shells.   Blowing the conch shells at sunset is very popular here and everyone went home with a shell to show off once they learn how to blow one.  You cut off the smallest whorl at the top of the shell and blow into it like a trumpet.  It makes a very satisfying low tone.   That’s of course, if you know how to do it.  Me, I am still learning but am determined to master it, or at least get as proficient as a little middle aged guy from New England can be.  Here’s Rob giving it a try.

The wind is picking up according to Chris Parker’s forecast so I expect that it’s going to be a wild night.  Glad that we are in a secure harbor.

So, now Brenda and I will have to readjust to being alone and continue on our journey.  Perhaps I’ll have a rum punch tonight.   It will remind me of this great moment as we headed off to a beach cocktail party a few days ago, punch in hand.

Yeah, that’s the ticket.

It’s Friday and we are back anchored near town in George Town.   Rob and Kandice are shopping while Brenda and Chris are aboard Pandora cleaning some shells that the kids plan on taking home with them.   The last week has been a blur of fun and I have to say that keeping up with this group of 20 somethings has been a lot of fun but a bit much even for someone with high energy like Moi.  After a lifetime of decaf coffee, I have had to resort to a bit of high test to even come close to keeping up.

Snorkeling, beach combing and evenings of rum and wine have left me feeling a bit worn but just so happy to have been able to spend time with them.   The views of the ocean are just spectacular.  Lots of limestone outcroppings to explore.Pandora looks like she belongs in this lovely blue water?  Hard to believe that it’s really this blue. The colors in every direction are just amazing. For the last few days we anchored in a lovely secluded harbor nearby but a bit off the beaten path, Red Shank.   After several days immersed in the hubbub of Hamburger Beach and Volley Ball beaches, we decided that we needed a break from all the boats, there are something like 250+ in the harbor.  Yes, the harbor is big but that’s still a lot of boats no matter how y0u count em.   Some drop the hook and stay put for the entire winter.   There is a very involved social scene there complete with morning announcements on the radio that sometimes take nearly an hour to go through.

Red Shank was such fun that we decided to say there for a few days.  Nearby there was some great snorkeling complete with lots of fish, sea turtles and even a few rays.

Brenda and I have really enjoyed being here with the kids and are certainly a bit sad now that they are heading out and we plan to veg out for a few days while we recover for a few days to recover from trying to keep up with this herd that have kept us on our feet since their arrival on Saturday.

Red Shank is one of the nicest that Brenda and I have been in so far and yet it is only a short distance off of the beaten path.  In spite of this it still feels like it’s somewhat remote compared with the more popular local anchorages.

Yesterday, when a small pod of dolphins arrived to check us out, Christopher dove in to swim with them.   While they didn’t pay much attention to him, he was able to get quite close and one swam right under him.  How exciting it was.

The other evening we were invited over to a large trawler powerboat that was from Louisiana by a very nice guy who was traveling with his two young children, a boy and girl seven and nine.   We really enjoyed being shown his boat including the engine room, which had more space than the entire living space aboard Pandora.  I wish that I had brought my camera along so you could see how nice the engine room was.

Having the kids aboard has been so much fun and one thing that has made the visit even more enjoyable is my watermaker.  I installed the unit last winter and boy and I glad that I did.  Having five aboard and in and out of the water all day long combined with elaborate meals each night with tons of cleanup has dramatically increased our water consumption.   While I am not sure what our consumption has been, it’s probably about three to four times as high as normal.  While Brenda and I are not that stingy with our water use, we still don’t use much more than 10-15 gallons on a  “good” day with moderate use.  However, with the gang here, I expect that our consumption is more like 40-50.  That’s hard to imagine and wipes through most of our water in three days or so.

So, how much do I like the watermaker?  About 40 gallons per day of like.  While I ran the unit off of the generator for a few hours in the morning today, I continued to run it off of solar for several hours too.  Happily, we have been able to keep things all topped up each day and ready for massive showering.   I am so happy not to be the resident “water Nazi” aboard Pandora.  It surely makes for more comfort and less concern about use makes for a happier life for all concerned.

With bandwidth so limited on our Batelco data plan, about 1/3 of what we really need to keep up with e-mail and blog posts, I will have to keep my photos to a minimum.

As soon as Christopher is back in the US, I’ll be able to resume sending posts to him via Sailmail and will be able to stretch my data allotment.

It’s hard to believe that our visit with the kids, if 26 and 28 are kids,  is about over.  It’s been just so much fun.

We didn’t have any luck catching lobster but did have some success spearing a few lion fish and cooked them up for dinner last night.  More on that with some pix soon.

Oh, BTW, the 15hp engine is just so great.

This photo of Rob and Kandice say it all.  What fun we have had!!!

Too much of a hurry to be sure that this is edited, even a little bit.  Forgive the sloppiness.  Got to try to keep up with the 20 something set.   Whew!!!