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December 26^th, 2009

 Several people have asked how we weathered the storm earlier this week.  I saw winds over 40 mph as it came from the west (our unprotected side) and the anchor held like a charm.  I woke up about 1:30 am as the rains started coming down , back to sleep and woke up again about 4:30 am (don't know why but there must have been a strange sound).  Our GPS track shows the storm passage.

  We started out on the left side of the circle with winds from the east.  Our anchor is in the middle of the circle.  The winds then went SE to S putting us at the 12:00 o'clock position on the circle.  The winds continued turning to the SW to W and finally North when I took this picture.  The triangle marks our present position, south end of the circle with the winds from the north.  The perfect circle shows that our anchor held in all directions.  I love the Rocna anchor.

Yesterday the four boats (Solitaire, Veranda, Sapphire and Fine Lion) all got together on Fine Lion for Christmas Dinner.

  Nancy, Kim, Steve and Bill.  The rest Mike, Kathy, Christy are behind me.

Christy dug in and loaded up her plate.    Actually everyone did.  Great meal with a ocean view.

After dinner Kim feed the fish some scraps. 

 Our time here with friends has been great.  We will be moving south tomorrow or the day after.  Back to Blackpoint and Little Farmers Cay. 

From the attic of my mind..

The other evening it was calm and beautiful.  In the dark of the night I stepped out on the foredeck and enjoyed the evening sky with the half filled moon.  I noticed the reflections from the moon dancing on the small waves and then noticed that the moon also lit the white sand on the sea bed 12 feet below us so the ocean glowed white.

About a week ago, we saw 3 green flashes in a row.  We had watched for the green light at sunset for years.  From Fiji to Honduras, Florida and all spots in-between.  I must have 100 hours of video trying to capture the light.  We looked for it so many times that we felt people that claimed they saw it must have been smoking something.  We even had one person tell us that if you look at the setting sun with binoculars it can always be seen (I always look at the sun with binoculars).  After all these years we finally did see it and we saw it three times in a row.  Camera ready??  Nope.  We didn't think we would see it the first night we did and of course it would be impossible to see it the second and third time.  But now, we can join the group that have seen the green light at sunset...

Tonight is another treat.  A wonderfully calm evening.  High cirrus clouds.  The setting sun cast a brilliant red to cover every high cloud in the sky.  Those clouds then reflected on the ocean below.  It is one of those evenings where the old sailors would say that the ocean was on fire.

December 23^rd, 2009

We are still at Big Majors Spot and enjoying the anchorage.  There was a big storm that came through and all the boats left the anchorage to find hidey-holes.   It was interesting listening to them as the wind picked up to 40 mph and they were getting close to rocks and sand bars.  Some put out a second anchor. A big white power palace ran aground at 4:00 am and worked for about an hour to get off and back to a temporary spot where they could drop anchor again.  When the sun was high enough for them to see, they moved to a different spot and joined us the next day.  We stayed in this spot and took the high west winds knowing that we are in one of the best anchor holding spots in the Bahamas and we were already in place as the wind clocked to the north and eventually the northeast.  We were covered from the winds in all directions but the west.  Now we have about 25 boats around us.  We will stay here until after the new year and start a slow move to the south.  Because immigrations only gave us 90 days here we have to stop in Georgetown and get our visas extended for (hopefully) 120 days.  Keeping our fingers crossed.

We will be having Christmas dinner with Bill and Christy (S/V Veranda), Steve and Kim (S/V Fine Lion) and Mike and Kathy (S/V Sapphire).  Cooking chores have been divided up for a ham dinner with lots of side-dishes and desserts.  We will be doing a Dirty Santa gift exchange with on board (not purchased) items that are not used by the owners (somebody's white elephant in another's treasure).  That should be interesting...

A couple of nights ago we had a beach party with all the boats that collected here in the anchorage after the blow and it was just wonderful.  Bonfire on the beach, treats galore and Christmas music singing.  Everyone stayed well past normal bed time.

We talked to Bob (Bob and Bev, S/V Savage Son) on the SSB as they sailed down the east coast of Florida headed to Lake Worth.  They will be spending a few days there and then crossing the Gulf Stream headed to the Bahamas.  It will be really nice to see them again and this time it will be on the east side of the stream.

It is windy, rainy and overcast today.  Not really pleasant outside.  The good thing it is still 73 degrees, very comfortable.  The blow we had was a cold front and it lowered the temperature 10 degrees (no snow). Nancy has been busy with Christmas baking: rum cakes, almond roca, peanut butter fudge and decorated sugar cookies.  She has been making goodie platters and giving them to neighbors since she was a little girl.  Today or tomorrow, we'll hop in the dinghy, put on our Santa hats and deliver our goodies to nearby boats.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

December 18^th, 2009

We are at Big Majors Spot in the Bahamas, Exumas Island Chain.  We are anchored next to the beach that has the swimming pigs.  They will swim out to the dinghy and beg for food.  Don't get too close though, they will try to climb aboard and their hooves will cut into the dinghy and you will become a swimmer.  Instead of swimming with the sharks you can say you swam with the pigs.

We had a beach party one evening and this picture shows the boats at anchor and all the family cars (dinghies) that came to shore.