IN NASSAU FOR PICK UP

Paul and I enjoy a day of leisure on Rose Island, outside of Nassau harbour

Home made bread in Chub Cay Marina (we had power, used the oven)

We arrived for lunch right beside Daruma (Dave and Traci Lockhart's catamaran) at Rose Island on Sat. We had a wonderful day of travel from Chub Cay Marina to Nassau. It was a short 2 ½ hour crossing. We are so happy to have waited for the “weather window”. Nassau Harbour Control is called in advance before we entered and went right to the other side to continue. This Harbour is an extremely busy harbour and it is necessary to call and get permission to enter AND to leave again. There were 7 huge cruise ships in port and The Nassau Harbour Control may ask anyone entering (or leaving) to wait until a ship has passed. Bahamas is an English island so they all have strong accents which we are getting used to. Of course, we Canadians have such strong accents ourselves, we've been told!

Rose Island is a beautiful little anchourage that we picked because it is easy to just go back into Nassau to pick up guests. Rose Island offers a lovely beach, good snorkeling on a reef, great place to kayak and a cool sandbar that one can walk a couple of kilometres on. Traci and I went on a very long kayak ride along the shore and saw a Sting Ray. They are so shy, hard to get close to one. The four of us walked along the beach. Swimming and snorkeling sure beats snowblowing! On Wednesday we will come right back to Rose Island for two more nights with Ben and Sam. Friends of theirs arrive on Sat. and we will head to the Exumas on Sunday morning or later as the wind is not that great again. No one can have a schedule in the Bahamas! First stop will be Allen's Cay, where there are large Iguanas that come out of the bushes in hope you've saved scraps of lettuce and compost. We tear these in bite size pieces and they come to eat these. After this for an hour or so we will motor over to Norman's Cay for the night. Plans can be changed... so we will blog again when we can. It was 30 degrees C but with the wind chill it felt like only 29 degrees! Internet is scarce.

Coyaba from the water at Rose Island
Daruma in the background, our neighbours

Paul on the sandbar at low tide

We shopped in Nassau just at the grocery store to pick up produce. We came away happy! Prices not too bad either. But it was rush hour, and so many small cars with small horns, beep beep constantly, like all the small cars are talking to each other. We are provisioned for Ben and Sam and their friends.
Tomorrow we leave as soon as Ben and Sam arrive, we will tour around Friday afternoon again here as we wait for Tyler and Jalyn. We will pay for the internet again on Fri afternoon for the 24 hours. We will check our emails then.

One's destination is never a place, but rather a new way of looking at things. Helen Miller

NASSAU TOMORROW

We left Bimini for the Bahama Banks, it was rough going but we made it all the way to Chub Cay. We DID NOT want to anchor on the Banks, way too rough. We anchored in the harbour of Chub Cay along with other boats. We ventured out the next day but turned back to Chub after an hour or so, the winds were so fierce and the waves were coming in all directions. We came back to anchor. The Chub Cay Marina is very expensive here with big yachts and many a fishing boat (the big kind, for sports fishermen). We have been here in Chub Cay ever since. We ventured out to the big water again today but turned back. Tomorrow is the big day as the waves will be less than half of today and winds will be okay. We are now sitting in the Chub Cay Marina. ... getting the internet, doing laundry, filling up with water etc. and nice and calm in here. When we get to the Exumas, it will be so nice and calm!

When we were anchored out in the inlet there were about 20 starfish surrounding our boat. It was awesome, we tested out the kayak too and sure enjoyed that. We had been working to get to the Bahamas that we needed the time to relax. The staterooms are all cleaned up and ready for Wed. when Ben and Sam arrive and then on Sat. their friends Tyler and Jalyn.

This is our view from inside our salon

One of so many starfish, about 10 inches diameter, water shoes a must!

A Big Ship coming into Chub Cay, here for half day filling up
 their fuel tanks at the Texaco Station

The I-Pod touch that James and Matt gave us is coming in handy as I listen to our local radio station and enjoy that. We have our Satellite phone working and have gotten texts from Matt. It is great to have that in an emergency.

FIRST SUNSET IN BAHAMAS

Paul took this photo after I just published the last blog so here it is. It is worth posting! What do you all think? Feel free to post comments and/or read them.

Amazing!!

WE ARE IN BIMINI BAHAMAS (chocolate)!

We arrived in the Atlantic Ocean at 8am exactly this morning. The narrow canal along New River was better at this early morning. We want everyone to know we are happy and tomorrow we casually drive to the Bahama Banks to anchor for the night. I have a boneless leg of lamb to BBQ. We met a couple from Calgary here in Bimini and another from Montreal. Our hockey stick flying our flag is a conversation breaker.

This is the last bridge for us leaving Port Everglades (Ft.Lauderdale,
where 7 ships are docked)

arriving from the Gulf Stream to this blue water

Yes, if you have been following for a couple of weeks, you will note that I am eating chocolate tonight! But not too much as my Dad just emailed me and is concerned I may go overboard with it!

We will be anchoring tomorrow night, so no internet. We have our SAT phone. Safe travels for everyone this week.

CRUISED ON THE ATLANTIC OCEAN!

We left Lake Worth inlet along with so many fishermen through the cut to the Atlantic Ocean! The exit was the experience of a lifetime!! With all the waves from the boats and the currents coming and going, we were going sideways and fronts and backwards... but once finally out there (10 min. max).... we were totally fine and looked like seasoned travellers. It was not near as rough as when Paul test "drove" the catamaran on the Gulf side of Florida. BUT... we will lock shut the fridge tomorrow as the oil from pickled peppers flew out of the fridge along with the green relish. I am actually so glad the fridge was packed tightly with food as then nothing else moved around.

We were about 3 miles offshore with the shoreline in total sight, and we traveled about 50 miles from Lake Worth to Ft. Lauderdale. When we entered Ft. Lauderdale, 7 huge cruise ships tied up there. I mean HUGE.... and I imagine all the people coming and going to crew and those traveling on them that are helping the commerce here in the great city of Ft Lauderdale. I saw the Oasis of Seas... the widest I've ever seen and I also wrote down the name of the Crown Princess... and 5 others that I could not see names of. Awesome!!

One of many megayachts here.

We traveled inland on a "canal" system to New River here in Ft. Lauderdale. We had a reservation on slip #3 at the municipal marina. It is a fantastic slip and the least expensive slip we've paid for. As we travelled up this canal we saw millions of dollars sitting on this one canal... megayachts and sleek boats. I haven't seen anything like this since 2009 in St. Maarten! The economy here is booming! We saw so much in this one day that I've only seen in movies and magazines. After we docked, we then see these megayachts travel by us, some are piloted by a tug because they are so huge and the canal is so narrow.

The back tug boat is helping to turn it

This is the front tugboat... helping to guide it through the tight canal. 

One Megayacht being towed through the canal

www. novascotia.com is seen here by Theodore the Tugboat... anyone who had children when we did would know who that is and he had many other cast members on that children's tv show. I actually thought Theordore was a fictitious character but no... an actual boat for promoting tourism.

There are so many manatee here in this canal !!

We are one day from Bimini and the exit to the Atlantic will be more gentle than at Lake Worth, as it is much wider inlet (hence the cruise ships) and the fishing boats will not give us a problem. The waves tomorrow are suppose to be only 2-3 ft instead of 4 sometimes today. We will be staying at The Big Game Club in Bimini. Again we should be there shortly after lunch. We will be checking into Customs there... getting the fishing license etc.

This is the last blog for awhile, but the marina tomorrow may have free wifi... otherwise we have our SAT phone and we can blog when we get to Nassau. So if there is no blog for a couple of days, no worries.

Success Is Not The Key to Happiness. Happiness Is The Key to Success. If You Love What You Are Doing, You Will Be Successful. (Albert Schweitzer)

ANCHORED IN LAKE WORTH, FL

We left Stuart this morning and had a wonderful farewell from 3 dolphins. Two swam along one bow and the other swam right in front of the other bow. This dolphin kept looking up at me and coming up for air many times. The water was like glass so we could see the 3 dolphins so well. A small day boat beside us had children on board and they were so excited taking pictures.
Before we left we filled up our catamaran with fuel so we are very low in the water. As we eat, drink and travel we will rise up a little. The fuel in Nassau is not as clean as here so we wanted to top up before we left. We are now anchored in Lake Worth, FL. We will go on the outside tomorrow from the inlet here to Port Everglades up to Ft. Lauderdale. We have a reservation at New River Downtown Marina there. It is the weekend and many boats are also awaiting to travel the Gulf right now. We needed a reservation for peace of mind.

The last stop for us yesterday was yet again another Home Depot... see my beautiful herb garden, basil, oregano and 2 kinds of parsley. My "pet" palm tree was lonely! The herbs will last as long as we don't eat too many of their leaves.

I took a photo of Paul at the bow checking the anchor ... this was taken on purpose so you see our view from above in our fly bridge.

And this photo are the giant Explorer Chartbooks we bought that was recommended before leaving. I put Paul's phone on the cover of one so you get perspective on our big they are..... (not bedtime reading!)

Yes, the radar is up and working along with all four solar panels, we are doing great!!
We Act As Though Comfort and Luxury Were The Chief Requirements In Life, When All We Need To Make Us Really Happy Is Something To Be Enthusiastic About. (Charles Kingsley)

GOOD NEW, MORE GOOD NEW AND EVEN BETTER NEWS

There was so much good happening to us in the last couple of days that now we can share our plans with you all. First of all, the weather is looking so positive for us to leave the United States of America for Bimini on Sunday. We plan on leaving Stuart on Friday morning and no rush either, a short day to Lake Worth, Florida where we will anchor. Paul is one up at dawn when leaving to go anywhere by boat, but not this time as we do not have a long distance to go. Saturday we plan to travel to Ft. Lauderdale and leave on the Sunday morning for Bimini. All weather for the next while is totally in our favour, God is watching over us for this wonderful journey!

Second... our experience at the Border Control... Homeland Security was a simple matter, our Officer there in Ft. Pierce, gave us an extension on our cruising permit and now we just leave, such a simple matter. We have not had good experiences with our cruising permits along the coastline over these months.

Third, Yahoo, the brand new radar that arrived today is working and Paul has a fantastic new experience when traveling. This is great and now we even feel more secure. It is nice sometimes when those fast motoryachts come from behind... we will see them on the radar. Our boat is always one cruisers like to come close by to see.

We are finally provisioned! Our BMO Mastercard will get a break finally. I do want to fly to Europe soon so those airmiles will boost us up to First Class... Paul does not know that part of the flying yet, but he will days from now when he reads this entry, wink wink!

Please see the wonderful "toys" that Paul bought for us and our guests. We sure look forward to everyone enjoying the Bahamas with us. Wal-Mart and West Marine's shares just went up with all our shopping.

We also got two underwater "slings" to "hunt" for fish or lobster... google that.

Paul has oil for 2 boat engine, big generator and the little generator. (we have the storage, maybe I had to sacrifice a bit and not buy as many boxes of white wine, hahahaha)

We have heard stories of boaters waiting to go to the Bahamas but are awaiting mail from there to give them permission to come with their dog... yes that is right, when you want to bring your dog to the Bahamas you must provide the proper papers in advance then they will mail you the proper permits. Now we do not have a dog and are not awaiting or "proper papers" but I do have a pet plant ... a Pony Tail Palm Tree, nice and small and low maintenance. There is no poop scooping or anything!

The brand new StainMaster Carpet fits 99% here in the saloon. We are content.

Dave and Traci have arrived in the Bahamas safely and are awaiting us to come. We will meet them near the island of Rose Island. They do not blog as often, so I know their family reads ours (hi Cardinal, Ontario).

We are warm and toasty here and I know from B.C. to Ontario it is snowing badly!

We will blog soon again, stay posted.