PREPARATIONS TO LEAVE

What does a boater do before one leaves it for awhile?

Salt water is our enemy down south so we:

Flush port and starboard engines with fresh water (I have to help and start the engines while Paul is flushing them with the hose)

Flush the generator same thing (yes, I am starting the generator, lots of buttons!)

Flush the outboard engine with the fresh water and drain the fuel.

We pickle the watermaker. (This does not mean edible pickles... hahhaha)

Fill the freshwater tanks with water to the top so no air are in the tanks.

Change the engine oil on the generator AND the port and starboard engine.

Hose down all the lines (ropes) and stuff in forward hatches with fresh water. When we travel salt water enters those compartments sometimes. Let all this dry big time in the sun then put away again. Anything with salt on it does not dry, period!! We have boated in fresh water all these years so we are on a learning curve.

I washed all the insides and outsides of the canvas windows in the flybridge, looks good up there.

Remove all the electronics from the flybridge and put away.

Make sure the bilges are all bone dry (running the air conditioner with the engine rooms open).

Toilets use salt water to flush, we will be flushing a few times with fresh water before we leave.

Tie up the boat with numerous lines as if a hurricane is coming so we can sleep at night in Canada.

Usually get pumped out but the P.O.O.P boat (Pump Out Operation Program) comes on Thursdays, so no go. We will get pumped out as as soon as we come back. We fly home on Wednesday because we want to spend time with our middle son before he leaves on military employment for rest of summer. He leaves April 15^th.

We give frozen food and some fridge food away. There is a bachelor living on this boat right in front of us. We gave him some food last year too. We won't be back until about May 7, power could go out and food could go bad!... smelly!

We go out for lunch, JCP, dinner, drink up some more wine, sunbathe, buy 2 pairs of jeans for Paul, drink some more wine, shop at Kohls, another lunch, walk the docks, read a book, shop at Sam's Club (as there is no club in Ottawa), book flights, book rental car to get to airport, store our car in a storage unit for our return, another lunch out. Do a Wal-Mart trip (yes, I can't believe it either) and then wear clothes conducive to Ottawa weather on the way home... running shoes, pants and yes a JACKET. James picks us up and hug him asap!

"No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow." --Lin Yutang

SEXY WINE BOMB!

Paul likes to shop for a wine based on the
creativity of the label maker and
the label Name!!

This Mail Boat is the connection to the outside world
for many settlement islands in the Bahamas. This boat
fills up with goods from Nassau and carries on

Paul walking the beach near Samson Cay, Exumas

Matt with a huge, giant spider... YES it is dead
how else could he not be afraid!

Huge blooms at Bimini Sands Marina. I look forward
to Spring time at home!

Paul and blue waters in Bimini

This is the ferry from Ft Lauderdale to Bimini
every Friday (weather permitting)

A cool old boat that we saw at Lake Worth

Paul loves wigs and wanted to be a pirate!
Yes he likes his rum too.

"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop" -- Mother Teresa

EXUMAS TO OUR LIFE

When you have been “away” from the amenities you are used to, it is funny the things you miss. Boaters that are following this blog may relate and non-boaters may have some understanding.

FROM-------TO

a dinghy for transportation .......our car

showering at night after the hot sun........showering and BLOWDRYING my hair in morning

rationing water........ no charge water here at the marina and home

mopping the boat after a rain ............lawn mowers and leaf blowers

cash ..........credit card most of the time

no make-up ..........putting on make-up again (for me), yes, I must!

flip flops .........sandals and running shoes!

From a 400 square foot store ...........Big Box Stores with parking issues

blue sparkling waters ...........green grass that grows like crazy!

Toe rings and anklets......... rings on fingers and bracelets

a wallet .............an actual purse with “stuff in it”

a small bbq on board .............our patio big bbq on the back deck

two small lawn chairs.............. our patio furniture with cushions

commuting on water to town............... driving with hundreds of others

no television ..............endless selection and now commercials

rationing your romaine lettuce .........endless supply of produce, I hugged a zuchinni!

Mahi Mahi..........hamburgers, steak, pork and lamb!

We are loving being back and enjoy the many amenities we have missed. Driving our car again took a few minutes (I forgot where the volume was for the stereo!). We will book our flights home to Ottawa soon but need to decompress a bit. We have been blessed with the news that we will be grandparents for the first time end of October AND that means I had to shop in a baby department today!! What a great year 2013 will bring. We all hope your year will be a great one too.

I will keep posting until end of May.

What children need most are the essentials that grandparents provide in abundance. They give unconditional love, kindness, patience, humour, comfort, lessons in life. And most importantly, COOKIES!

BIMINI SPRING VISITED

H&M is a great store to shop in which Ottawa, Ontario does not have. Everytime we meet our friends on Oceanaire, I secretly nickname them H&M. These guys are funny and have a sense of humour. They have a golf cart here on Bimini (along with half the population). They took us on a tour of Bimini Bay where they have a slip. This resort is huge and super beautiful with wonderful beaches. They just had to show us the “Bimini Spring”. They could not believe we haven't heard of it or seen it. The drive wasn't too far, then we had to hike a ways, and lo and behold.... the Bimini Spring right under a great tree! They show the “Bimini Spring” to everyone and they must bring their camera!

A "spring" has many meanings
H&M put up a blue spring and named it! Too funny

We left blue waters for brown yesterday. We did not like the angle of going towards Lake Worth inlet to the ICW so ended up heading to the Hillsboro Inlet. This was a more comfortable ride but longer. We then had to wait for many openings of bridges on the ICW to get to Lake Worth. We like Lake Worth because of the Customs and Immigration is there at the cruise dock, super convenient. Many Canadians checking in this morning along with us. We now have another year of cruising with our new permit.

We are at the Sunset Bay marina here in Stuart, Fl. We are so so happy to be here and no more travelling until we fly home next week. I hope there is sun up there or my tan will wash off. I will do another post in a day or two. I have lots to tell you all,

SKINNY ACCESSIBLE ONLY

Non-Accessible washroom vanity

Our Ben celebrates a birthday today (which means I am now older too). He worked at the Ottawa, Ontario food bank for months. The bathrooms and everything had to be wheelchair accessible. I thought of him last night as we saw the women's washroom at Bimini Sands Beach Resort. This washroom is not even accessible if you are overweight at all. I thought it was too funny and had to take a picture of it. I don't know who designed it but I thought why not just put a small sink in at the end instead of this long vanity that you would have to squeeze through to wash your hands. Anyways, I had to share.

An interesting jelly fish here
at Bimini Sands Marina

SEASIDE RULES

Way back when Paul and I were in New Smyrna, Florida we went shopping in the tiny boutique touristy shops. This is a rare event but things happen for a reason. Paul looked up and saw this amazing sign that was framed and on a stand for all to see. "We have to get this so all our guests know the rules". I agreed and now I am posting the rules as all our guests have gone now.

All boaters have the "rules" to follow on their boat... I can say for all boaters that these rules apply big time. Any cottage could use a sign like this too.

We are at Chub Cay Marina with many villas and cottages. We did an hour hike today and came across some very unique driveway entrance decorations. They are so creative down here from pineapples, mermaids to this awesome sand dollar that I just loved. Paul took a picture of it for me. I like to share the uniqueness of the Bahamas.

The weather is going to be in our favour to leave at dawn Thursday morning. We will leave this marina tomorrow and anchor out. We leave for Bimini Sands Marina and will be there for a few nights awaiting for the weather window again (as other boaters do).

I have been listening to our local radio stations, Majic 100 and CFRA the last few days so I am hearing the weather and the local news. Being away so long we seem connected by the world wide web! What a great invention!

Hatch-- An opening in a deck leading to the cabin below with a cover designed to let water in while keeping fresh air out.

Passage—Basically a voyage from point A to point B, interrupted by unexpected landfalls or stopovers at point K, point Q, and point Z.

MAKING OUR WAY TO FLORIDA

Hello to our followers I can see people are trying to see where we are... well we left Staniel Cay on Friday morning and travelled all the way to Rose Island, just outside of Nassau. The weather, wind, waves, prayers, sun etc were all in our favour. We left Nassau after getting fuel, on Saturday for Chub Cay. Now those weather factors are not in our favour now, so we are paying to stay in a marina here surrounded by Sport Fishermen. Chub Cay Club is where the huge Sport Fishermen come with their boats. These are the boats with the tall tuna tower high up above their flybridges. We wake up to all these boats gone (up early to catch the fish?) and they come back between 2pm and 4pm. Then these men (many crew) wash and scrub their boats for about 2 hours. Salt is the enemy. I noticed that the boats with the most crew (or maybe friends?) get the job done very fast, it seems they have their designated jobs. Remember when you were young and if you had a car, you seemed to have a few extra friends? I always notice that these men with the sport fishing boats seem to have a few extra friends onboard too.

When we are anchored at Rose Island we see Atlantis all lit up at night. Well, Friday night's sunset was amazing in the sense that the sun was huge! From our angle that sun was so big that Paul took a video and few shots on our camera.

Every time we pass through Nassau Harbour our eyes are always on the large cruise ships, they wave to us and we wave back. Saturday is a big day as this is a day for a turnaround. There were 5 ships in harbour. This time though I actually looked opposite of the cruise ships and this time I saw this quaint “shack” that came out of the shore by about 100ft. All these times coming through this channel I was so busy waving and taking cruise pictures I missed this little cottage. Notice that Atlantis is in the background. This cottage has a perfect view of all the ships coming and going.

I wonder if this houseboat was going too fast?
I got this online, did not happen near us.